The Long and Winding Road
by Random-Musings
Summary: ABANDONED BECAUSE I'M NO LONGER 15 Nobody would have guessed that the lives of a bitter intellectual, Severus Snape, and a cheeky redhead, Lily Evans, would ever collide...but they guessed wrong. A story of love, hate, mirth, pain and discovery from 1976 to 1981. Chapter 20 is up!
1. The Car Ride

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or its characters. They belong to JKR. Nuff said!

A/N: Hello all. This is my first fanfiction ever so I hope you enjoy this story, Read, and Review. Constructive criticism is accepted as well but please be respectful. BTW this story has HBP spoilers in it so if you didn't read _Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince _then…well just read it.

A/N 2: The song in this chapter is property of Simon and Garfunkel. Without further ado…on with the story!

_**X The Car Ride**_

* * *

Heavy rain fell all across London that morning. It was the wettest summer that Severus Snape could remember. He sat quietly in the passenger seat, watching the droplets of water glide gracefully down the window of the car. Some flew across the glass with surprising speed, others destined to join a flowing bead of rain and become one. Still, some seemed to avoid the other raindrops and slowly make their own path down the glass.

Severus was silently watching a "race" between a couple of raindrops and rooting for the droplet on the right when both of the drops were vanquished by a sharp blow of wind. He looked away from the window and instead gazed at the seemingly endless red backlights of the cars in front of him. Their red glares reflected off the front glass of the Snape family car; in the rain, they seemed even brighter. Severus glanced at his father who was singing along to a song on the radio.

_And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson  
Jesus loves you more than you will know_

_Wo, wo, wo  
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson  
Heaven holds a place for those who pray  
Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey_

_Stupid Muggle_, thought Severus. _Stupid waste of space of a Muggle. First time I've seen him sober all summer._ Severus' home life was not a happy one and he was even _looking forward_ to returning to Hogwarts. His summers at the Snape home usually included his mother sobbing in the loo - sometimes summoning Severus in to give him hugs and kisses. She constantly told him how much she loved him and how he would become such a gifted Wizard. _Just like she used to be,_ he mused. After praising him she would shoo him away so she could either sob some more or get up and drive over to one of her girlfriends' houses. _Probably to go cry to them, also,_ he thought.

He felt an involuntary shiver of pity travel along his spine as he thought of his mother. Not only was she manic-depressive, but she also had to suffer from his father's abuse—verbal, and from time to time even physical. Severus tried to expel any more thoughts about his mother and after a few seconds succeeded.

He suddenly felt his cold cheeks burn with anger while thinking of his father. If he wasn't coming home at ungodly hours completely smashed, he was yelling up a storm because he had nothing better to do.

He remembered the occasion when his mother first told his father that she was a witch. He was about seven years old at the time. It was a warm spring night at the Snape home in Yorkshire; Severus and his mother were sitting in the living room playing a card game. Severus won, and laughed at his mother for being so horrible at "Go Fish". She put on a fake pout and then attacked him with her famous tickles. He laughed for what seemed like hours and his mother had huge smile on her face when she saw him giggle. The front door opened and his father walked inside the living room, loosening his tie…

"_Daddy!" shouted young Severus. He hugged his father around the legs and started to jump up and down. "Mummy lost again when we were playing Go Fish! Maybe she didn't play the game when she was younger like you and me, Dad. Mum also got me some ice cream with loads of chocolate syrup and—"_

"_Whoa, slow down, son. I think you ate a bit too much chocolate today," said Tobias Snape. Severus then ran back to his mother, who was sitting tensely in an armchair. Her face seemed a bit paler as she looked at Tobias. Severus thought she looked like she was doing a hard maths problem._

"_Tobias," she started. "Please…sit down. There is something that you need to know and this seems like an appropriate time… You too, Sev, sit down on Mummy's lap."_

_Tobias sat down and looked at his wife questioningly as Severus obediently sat in his mother's lap. He looked up at her and asked, "What's wrong, Mummy?"_

_Eileen looked at Tobias with fear etched across her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she nervously stroked Severus' hair. "Darling, I remember that you used to say that there was something…different about me, and—"_

"_Eileen, I meant that in a loving way, not as an insult!" Tobias laughed. "And that was ages ago when I first met you. There was something different about you, and that's what I love about you."_

_Severus made a face and said, "I hope this doesn't get mushy, Mum. And if it is, why am I still down here?"_

"_Quiet, Sev. Tob, you were correct. There was and still is something different about me." She breathed in deeply. "Tobias…I…I'm…that is to say that—"_

"_Spit it out, Eileen!" barked Tobias. It was obvious that he was nervous now. Did she cheat on him? Was Severus not their son? Nevertheless, why would that make her use the word "different" to describe herself?_

"_Tobias, I'm…I'm a witch." _

_There was a long pause until Tobias started to laugh and Severus did as well. A witch? Sure._

"_Mummy, I sometimes think that I can fly but I can't _really _fly," said Severus with a smirk. His father was still laughing, sputtering out the words witch, cheating, not our son, and broomstick. Eileen, however, was not laughing. "Why aren't you laughing, Mummy? Did you really think that we would fall for that?"_

"_I'm not laughing, Sev, because I'm not joking," Eileen said, her face flushed with pent-up anger. With that, she told Severus to get up and she put her hand in her pocket and pulled out a stick. "Tobias, are you sure you don't believe that I'm a witch?"_

_Tobias Snape was crying from laughter and said in gasps, "No, no, dear! Of course you are a witch! And I'm Heidi and Sev is John Lennon and that plant over there is the Queen of Engl—"_

"Silencio!"_ shouted Eileen and Tobias' voice was gone. As soon as Tobias realized he didn't hear the last part of "England" he knew something was wrong. He tried to talk normally again and when that was unsuccessful tried to scream, which was again unsuccessful. His face went from flushed with laughter to pale with worry. Severus looked at him mum with fear plastered across his young face._

"_Believe me now, Tobias?" she said with a smirk. She lifted the charm, yet you could barely tell because it seemed Tobias could no longer even open his mouth._

"_How did…the stick…and…WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON HERE!" Tobias shouted._

"_I told you that I am a witch, and since you didn't believe me, I had to show you," said Eileen calmly._

_"But, all this time…and you never told me! How long have you been a bloody witch! Am I a witch too? What the hell—" Tobias muttered._

_"Tobias Lloyd Snape, I will tell you everything if you just shut up!" Eileen yelled. She took a deep breath, and told Tobias and Severus about how she grew up in a pureblood wizard family and went to a prestigious wizarding school called the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She described what she did at school, talking about her various friends and how she was excellent at a game called Gobstones. She finished her story off with how she fell in love with Tobias and decided to live among Muggles and then gave birth to Severus. Tobias was in shock and Severus' fear was replaced with awe and excitement. _

_"So…you are a witch? You played with wands all day, rode on broomsticks, and played stupid, weird, games with…gobstones for most of your life? I married a bloody WITCH!"_

_"Tobias, don't you see. I was afraid that if I told you, you wouldn't want to marry me. I was scared, Tob!" Eileen cried. "I knew I'd have to tell you eventually but I didn't want to tell you yet. And this brings up something else, Tobias. Remember that time when you wanted Severus—"_

_"Now you are bringing my son into this rubbish?" Tobias stood up._

_"What the hell do you mean _'my _son'_?_ He's just as much mine as he is yours, Tobias! Who do you think you are? Just because I'm a witch, it doesn't mean he's my son? Let me remind you that I was the one to actually give birth to him!" Eileen shouted and the lamp by the wall shook. Severus had never seen his mother so angry before. She took a deep breath, got a hold of herself, and trying to be as calm as possible, she continued. "You remember the time when you wanted to teach Severus how to swim and when he kept on refusing to go jump in the pool and you said that if he didn't go into the pool that he wouldn't get any dessert? Remember how you found it odd that right after you said that all the water in the pool was gone?"_

_"Are you saying that Severus did that somehow? That's impossible, Eileen!" Tobias said angrily._

_"Remember the time," continued Eileen loudly. "When I was baking biscuits for our new neighbour and told Sev that he couldn't have any? Didn't you find it strange that after only thirty seconds in the oven the biscuits started to smoke and burn and were essentially ruined?"_

_"That was just a mistake on your part, Eile—" Tobias interrupted._

_"AND, the time when we got a complaint from the primary school that time when a boy was bullying Sev and dumped a bucket of mud on his head? Why did the school call in the first place, Tobias? Oh right, because the boy's hair began to slowly turn green. . They thought knew Severus had something to do with it, and they were technically rightimmediately assumed Severus somehow got green ink in his hair. Of course they had no idea what really happened, but I put two and two together, Tobias: for years, Severus has shown all the signs of being a wizard!" Eileen Snape's hands were in fists and her knuckles were white, but her face was as red as a lollypop._

_"You're saying…that my son is a freaky little wizard? Not a, as you lot call it, 'Muggle' like myself? Are you mad, you bloody little—" Tobias started. The veins in his neck were popping out, but Severus had important things to ask._

_"Mummy, are you serious? I'm a wizard! That is so cool! When can I get that stick thing of yours? Will I be able to really make potions and meet unicorns? Will I be able to ride on a flying broom?" asked Severus, hopping up and down with excitement._

_"Of course you will, darling!" said Eileen with a warm smile at her son. "But not until you turn eleven and get your letter from Profess—"_

_"MY SON WILL NOT BE GOING TO SOME FREAKY WIZARDING SCHOOL, EILEEN! I SWEAR THAT IF HE DOES—" Tobias roared, startling Severus. Eileen removed Severus from her lap and stood up with a look of defiance._

_"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO, TOBIAS? LOCK HIM UP SO THAT HE CAN'T DO WHAT HE HAS BEEN DESTINED TO DO? PREVENT HIM FROM BECOMING SOMETHING GREAT? STOP HIM FROM HAVING THE SAME EDUCATION AS HIS MOTHER?" Eileen shrieked. "HOW DARE YOU EVEN SUGGEST THAT SEV WON'T BE GOING TO HOGWARTS? HE WILL GET AN EXCELLENT EDUCATION FOR SEVEN YEARS AND WILL MAKE US BOTH PROUD! HOW THE BLOODY SODDING HELL COULD YOU NOT—"_

_At that point, Tobias Snape slapped Eileen across the face so hard that she fell into the armchair and fell over backwards._

_"MUM!" Severus yelped as he scrambled to help his mother off the floor._

_"Out of the way, Severus!" yelled his father as he pushed Severus out of the way and grabbed Eileen around the collar of her shirt. Eileen's eyes were filled with tears and fear. Tobias then pushed Eileen into the corner of the room where she stumbled and hit her head on the wall._

_"MUMMY! Stop it, Dad! You're going to hurt her! Mummy!" screamed Severus as he ran to his mother's aid and with his weak little arms, tried to help his mother up, his little throat sore from yelling. His father however, again pushed Severus out of the way and began to yell obscenities at Eileen, most that Severus had never heard before. Eileen whimpered reached for her wand, but she had left it on the table minutes earlier. Severus began to cry loudly as he saw his mother being yelled at by his horrible father. Tobias then yelled at him and told him to go up to his room - which he wouldn't leave for over a day. Only his mother soft voice was able to lure him out._

From then on his father his was verbally abusive whenever he got the chance. His mother began to go to a wizard therapist in the outskirts of Hogsmeade until Severus' first year at Hogwarts when she just stayed at home and took Muggle medicine, cried, and constantly visited her Muggle friends' houses, occasionally visiting a non-Muggle friend from school, just to get away from Tobias for as long as humanly possible.

_Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?  
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you_

_Ooo, ooo, ooo.  
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson?  
"Joltin' Joe has left and gone away"  
Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey._

Severus loathed his father. He hated the way he sung, talked, ate, slept, and most especially the way he treated Severus' mother and Severus. _You aren't going to think about your mother, Severus,_ he told himself. _Think about something else. Think of ways to get back at Potter and the rest of his terrible cronies. Think about how you can use that new hex you found in a book on the train ride home after fifth year. Think about how you'll be at the top of Slughorn's N.E.W.T.-level Potions class, as usual. You definitely know more than that excuse for an Advanced Potions book. _Snape snorted and his father suddenly stopped his horrid singing.

"What the hell are you smirking about, boy? You best get ready, by the way, we are almost at the bloody train station," drawled Tobias.

He was actually right, though: they were only a few of traffic lights away from the train station. As they got closer and closer to the train station Severus felt butterflies in his stomach, but wasn't sure why. He knew that this year would be different - but for better or for worse, Severus had no idea.

They soon arrived at the train station and his father gave him a nod before he drove away. _Probably going to the pub again. _As Severus made his way across the train station he finally reached the wall he was supposed to walk casually through. He saw a Muggle-born second year Ravenclaw hug his loving parents goodbye a few feet away from the wall. Severus' head turned to the right to see someone he knew to be a fifth year Gryffindor argue with his mother about whether or not he had packed all of his underwear. He couldn't help but feel a surge of jealousy for the students who had parents kissing and hugging them just before the barrier. He scowled and was about to walk through the barrier to Platform 9¾ when he was stopped by a woman's voice. He turned around to see a tall blonde Muggle woman standing next to a short brunet Muggle in a business suit. In between them was a small girl with jet-black hair, pigtails, and a large, horrible smile. winced.

"Excuse me, young man, my husband and I noticed that you have a trunk just like my daughter's, and you happen to have a black robe on top of your trunk as well, so we are going to assume that you know where…what's it called, dear?" said the blonde woman.

"Platform 9¾! Do you know where Platform 9¾ is?" asked the little girl in a squeaky little voice.

Severus winced. "Right through this wall right in front of me. Just walk through it and you'll get to Platform 9¾," said Severus shortly and with that turned to walk through the barrier, but not before hearing the family's crying and kisses that he secretly always wanted before he departed every year.

**xxx**

"Lily Marigold Evans! Hurry up and eat a spot of breakfast or else you won't get to the train station on time!" yelled Matilda Evans, Lily's mother.

"Coming mum! Don't have a hippogriff!" Lily shouted from her room upstairs.

"A _what_?" shouted Matilda sounding quite scandalized.

"Never mind!" groaned Lily. It wasn't her fault Petunia took forever in the shower. Petunia staying home during the summer was, yet again, an utter disaster just as it had been the past few summers. It was always sibling rivalry at its best: No longer were the arguments over silly, trivial matters. It was all out war, initiated by Petunia. The great falling out showed signs years ago, ever since Lily got her letter of acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At first, Petunia was happy with the fact that Lily was a witch…well, maybe not _happy,_ but she dealt with it. However, as the years grew, the friction and tense nature surrounding the girls grew. Petunia's love for all things ordinary intensified with age and with that she developed a new word for her sister. Lily was now the "freak" of the Evans family. She was the great tragedy that tainted their name and normalcy. To make matters worse, Petunia had no support from her parents Matilda and Edward Evans. They were proud of their daughter; proud of her success in such a different world. Petunia didn't seem to understand her parents love for her sister's skill and grew even colder towards the younger Evans daughter; distant. During vacations she treated Lily as though she had a deadly illness. Petunia went so far with her taunting that one particularly colourful row between the two of them led Lily to storm out of the front door on a warm summer night. When Matilda and Edward Evans got word of the fight that led to their sixteen-year-old daughter walking around London so late, they scolded Petunia and all got into the family car to search for her. When they caught up with her not too far from the house, Lily had to enjoy the soothing sounds of Petunia arguing with her father while Matilda massaged her aching temples.

"Lily this, Lily that! Why the hell couldn't you just let her go on a walk! What's the worst that could happen to the brat!" yelled Petunia, sending glares towards the red haired girl seated next to her.

"Quiet, and don't talk about your sister like that. She's a sixteen-year-old girl, Petunia! What if she passed by that dodgy pub off Brookshire Road? Who knows what kind of characters are around there at night? If you were in Lily's situation we would be looking for you as well, Petunia," argued her father. "Lily, never do that again. Who knows what kind of men—?"

"I get it, alright! Lord! It's not as though I'm nine years old!" snapped Lily, who was fifteen at the time.

Petunia harrumphed and didn't bother to look at Lily for the rest of the night, but that was okay because Lily didn't look at Petunia either.

Lily's mind came back to the present and she shook her head slightly. _I can't help it if I'm a witch! It just happened and if she thinks her insults are going to make me regret being one then she has another thing coming._ Lily sighed.

With that, Lily tossed a few extra pairs of knickers and some schoolbooks into her trunk and decided to get dressed. She wore a few necklaces (one was a locket from her late grandmother, who had moved to California for some sun; another was a rainbow-beaded one that she had bought at a flea market; and another a necklace that she and her best friends Alice, Emmeline, and Marlene had made in their second year). Looking at herself in the mirror, she decided to wear her hair down and put on some light makeup. Feeling satisfied she ran down the stairs for a quick bite to eat, but before she reached the bottom of the stairs she heard Petunia shriek. _I'll bet anything it's Artemis, _thought Lily, and when she walked into the kitchen she discovered that she was correct. Artemis, Lily's light brown and white spotted owl, was perched on a chair next to the kitchen table. Petunia was whimpering in the corner of the kitchen while Artemis, if possible, had an amused look in her eyes.

"Hey, girl," cooed Lily as Artemis hopped onto Lily's arm. To her dismay a rat's tail was hanging from her mouth. "Yuck. Petunia, for the billionth time, it's all right! The last thing on Artemis's mind is attacking you!"

"How do you know? She could be planning something right now!" shrieked Petunia. "You and your stupid animals. They're filthy and don't belong in the kitchen!

Lily decided to play along with this idea and held Artemis up to her ear. "Uh-huh. You don't say! Really? No, too bloody. That could work…but where would we hide the body?" Lily then turned to Petunia whose eyes looked as big as Artemis's were. "Erm, Petunia, do you mind? Artemis and I are trying to decide the best way to hide your body after Artemis feasts on your lovely body tonight."

"Mum! Dad! Lily is talking to birds now! MUM!" yelled Petunia as she ran up the stairs.

Lily stifled a giggleand with that, Lily began to help herself to some eggs, sausage, and toast with raspberry jelly and eagerly imagined her return to Hogwarts for her sixth year.

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A/N 3: What did you guys think? I had fun writing this chapter. Any typos I need to correct? Too wordy? Any scenes that you liked? Read and Review please! I'll update very soon! 


	2. The Dungbomb

A/N: Thank you **Umi Watarimono **for reviewing! I thought that I wasn't going to get any and that my fic would be a flop but seriously, that one review made me really happy and made my day since I'm sick…yuck. So here is the new chapter. Tell me what you guys think about it!

* * *

_**X The Dungbomb**_

Lily reached the barrier at Kings Cross Train Station; she gave her mother and father a kiss and a hug. When Lily hugged Petunia, however, Petunia was as rigid as a board and refused to hug Lily back. Lily felt as though all the blood had been drained out of her body but pretended as though it was nothing – and, indeed, once she ran through the barrier and saw that big red steam train all her troubles with seemed to Petunia vanish.

The first person she saw was her friend Emmeline Vance. Emmeline was tall, very skinny, and blonde with blue-grey eyes. She was probably one of the cleverest girls in Gryffindor next to Lily. Lily ran towards her and gave her a huge hug in which Emmeline, unlike Petunia, returned eagerly.

"Lily! How was your summer? I never got to come over! You said that I could come over and experience the Muggle way of life for a week! What happened?" asked Emmeline. Emmeline was a pureblood but was fascinated by Muggles.

"Sorry, I decided against it because Petunia…well…hasn't been very tolerant of me the past few weeks," replied Lily. Emmeline gave a nod of understanding.

"Miss me, girls?" said the familiar voice of Marlene McKinnon. Her wavy brown hair was messy from the rain but frankly, Marlene probably didn't mind much. She would probably be considered a tomboy if it was not for the fact that she was obsessed with boys and gossip. However, she cared little about getting dirty; one of her favourite things to do was play Quidditch…in the rain. She hugged Emmeline and Lily and asked, "Where's the squirt?"

"Right here. Though I still don't know why you call me squirt, Marlene. It makes no sense whatsoever," interjected the voice of Alice Neilson. She panted as she dragged her trunk across the platform. "Sorry guys, I had to help Frank Longbottom find his toad. I swear that thing must hate Frank or something. He seems to lose it about twenty times before we even reach Hogwarts!" Alice's plump cheeks dimpled as she exchanged hugs, but Lily noticed that that Alice was still out of breath.

"Alice, let me help you with your trunk. I am a prefect after all; it's my job to help you out," Lily offered.

"Are you serious, Lily? With it raining and everything? Merlin, you are a lifesaver. What about your trunk? It's almost time to get on the train, so…" Alice said.

"Alice, just let me put your trunk away. I'll leave mine here - who'd want to steal it, anyways? All you have to do is put Artemis in the pets' compartment. And the rest of you guys find a compartment with me," Lily instructed. And with that, she went on the train to put Alice's trunk in the nearby compartment that the rest of the girls officially claimed theirs. While Emmeline, Alice, and Marlene relaxed in the compartment, Lily rushed back out to the platform to retrieve her own trunk. When Lily attained her trunk and started to drag it along the platform, she spotted Bellatrix and Narcissa Black whispering under an umbrella.

"Hey Mudblood! Best get on the train and taint it before it leaves. Even in the rain you're liable to muddy up the platform," scoffed Bellatrix while Narcissa cackled beside her. _How she made Head Girl this year I have no idea,_ thought Lily. Lily shook their predictable insults off and moved on…yet the word still hurt her.

Suddenly Lily's trunk slipped out of her grasp and fell to the ground. Groaning, Lily stooped to pick it up and started to drag it down the platform. Yet again it got away from her. Cursing, Lily again bent down to pick it up - but her trunk suddenly started to race down towards the opposite end of the platform. Lily chased after her runaway trunk. It was a difficult task: the trunk smoothly glided through and around the students with ease.

"Excuse me…sorry about that. Ouch! Sorry…runaway trunk!" she apologized to the dozens of people she bumped into along the way. The trunk finally began to slow down and as Lily grabbed for it she slipped on the wet platform with a yelp.

She blacked out for a second and the first thing she heard was a colourful mix of swearwords. She looked around and saw her trunk open with her books and clothes on the cement floor. Some clothes that definitely were not her own and a few books that she did not recognize were also getting wet. She picked up the closest book to her with confusion. _Dark Arts of England in the 1600s? I know I didn't buy this in Diagon Alley. _Suddenly the book was snatched out of her hand. She looked up to see the face of Severus Snape glowering at her. His scowl seemed more direct than usual.

"Watch where you're going, Evans! Merlin, are you blind?" sneered Severus.

"Sorry, but I couldn't help it," she said evenly. "My trunk was jinxed and I tried to catch it…but I suppose my trunk bumped into yours along the way." Lily looked around and saw Bellatrix put away her wand rather indiscreetly and laugh hysterically with Narcissa as they boarded the train.

"Probably did it yourself and didn't know it," Snape muttered.

"Bellatrix did this, Snape, not me; so I'd prefer if you didn't bite my head off, thank you very much!" Lily snapped. Snape just frowned and they both quickly grabbed the nearest items and stuffed them into their trunks. Once their trunks were repacked, they turned in opposite directions on the platform and boarded the train.

Once Lily got on the train and quickly said hi to her friends, she made her way to the prefects' compartment on the other side of the train. When she got there, she was greeted by her friend and fellow prefect, Remus Lupin.

"Hullo Remus, nice summer?" Lily said.

"It was okay, Lily. Spent a lot of time at James' house," Remus told her. "Did you know that Sirius moved in with him this summer?"

"No, I didn't. Why did he move in with Potter?" Lily said, making a small face at the thought of living with James Potter.

"Well, his parents were pretty horrible towards him. I'm sure you've heard that they are bunch pureblooded nutters," Remus said quietly.

"Yeah…I've heard," said Lily as she glanced at Bellatrix, sitting next to the Head Boy, Fabian Prewett, and Narcissa, who was seated next to Severus Snape. Lily then proceeded to tell Remus about her little experience on the platform. Remus gave a sympathetic nod. Out of all of the Marauders, Remus was by far her favourite. He at least tried to stop Potter and Black from getting into trouble…sometimes. She knew that Remus could not help but play some pranks every once and a while, and although she disapproved of them all, she was softer on him than the rest.

"So…have you talked to Emmeline yet?" asked Remus with a bit of nervousness in his voice.

Lily smiled. "Yes, I've talked to her. She said that her summer was pretty good." Lily had always had a feeling that Remus had a thing for Emmeline.

"Oh, that's good. Tell her I said hi," Remus said, apparently casual, though his voice was a little high pitched.

"No problem," said Lily with a smirk.

"Okay, let's get this over with so I don't miss the food trolley!" snapped Fabian Prewett, and the prefects' meeting came to order.

**XXX**

Severus was patrolling the corridors and was starving. He hadn't had breakfast, as usual, and had missed the food trolley. Now he had to search the corridors on an empty stomach. _If only my house actually had food in it during the summer. _Although Severus had always been skinny, he had lost about ten pounds over the summer. His family's refrigerator was either full of beer or only had milk and carrots. Not what one would call a healthy diet. He took his mind off his stomach for now and continued to walk along the narrow corridor, sticking his nose in the loud compartments to make sure nothing suspicious was going on. When it had to come to that, the members of the compartment would immediately stop talking but would giggle after he closed the compartment door. Around the time that his shift was over, he came across the open compartment containing Lily and her friends. He made a swift glance into the room and for some reason was just standing in the doorway. _Why are you standing here like an idiot? _he asked himself. Lily, Marlene, Emmeline, and Alice stopped talking immediately and each one of them glared at him. He noticed that Evans' glare was the most vicious of all. Her green eyes seemed to glow but he just assumed that it was the sun reflecting off her eyes. _The sun isn't out, you idiot. _Lily stood up, walked over to him, sharply grabbed his hand, and placed a chocolate frog box in it.

"You might be one of the biggest gits I've ever had the misfortune to know, but I still think you are far too skinny." With that, she turned around and shut the door in his face.

**XXX**

Lily loved the rain. She loved how it felt on her face and hair; she loved the smell of her surroundings after a nice long rain. The smell was inexpressible but it made her feel alive.

The past few days at home had been hard. Arguing with Petunia non-stop was like losing a best friend. Back when Lily was twelve and Petunia was sixteen they used to talk for hours on those hot summer nights, usually discussing the boys in their teen magazines and playing with their mother's makeup and jewellery. Now they just argued and tried to avoid each other as much as possible.

Another hard thing this summer were her parents. Her mother and father had many little arguments about Lily and Petunia. Her father would usually comment about their choices of clothing and her mother, although usually defending Lily and Petunia, acted as though she was always a big help to them. Sadly, Matilda Evans was usually just an embarrassment. Lily recalled a Sunday afternoon in late June, which saw a little row between her mother and father. She was ready to go shopping with her mother when her father stopped her and said her blouse was too tight.Her mother's excuse was that Lily's "bust" was growing. Lily's father told her, "You're my daughter and I want what's best for you," leading her mother to explain that Lily was just discovering her sexuality… Neither of them thought that maybe she just wanted to wear the shirt, no strings attached.

Lily listened to Alice and Marlene discuss the Quidditch World Cup in Germany and leaned her head against the cool window of the Hogwarts Express. Along with Petunia being distant and her father treating her like an eight-year-old, there were the newfound problems in the wizarding world. Headlines about missing persons and families murdered seemed to be constantly in the news now. Over the summer, Lily had subscribed to the _Daily Prophet_ to keep up to date with the recent events of her world, but almost regretted it after receiving only the fourth issue. Every week Lord Voldemort seemed to gain more support and cause more deaths. Each week different, each week more devastating than the last. Giants, werewolves, Death Eaters—as Voldemort's most loyal supporters styled themselves—and Voldemort himself caused death and destruction everywhere. Most citizens of the wizarding community had started to call him "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" or "You-Know-Who", but Lily preferred to call him Voldemort. She was not afraid of his name; she was afraid of what he could do. She was the only one of her friends who actually had the guts to call him Voldemort. Given the fact that Lily was technically one of his main targets, this surprised her friends. Lily was, after all, Muggle-born - and many Muggle-born witches and wizards had already been murdered in Voldemort's name.

Lily sighed. A few students had had the misfortune to lose family because of him. Most of them had parents or aunts and uncles who were of importance in the Ministry of Magic or influential in general. Thankfully, no students had perished yet, though there had been some narrow escapes.

One summer ago, Alice had had the misfortune to see the Dark Mark, the sign of the Death Eaters, over her uncle's house. Her uncle was an Unspeakable in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries, and although Alice barely knew him, she was still devastated.

The future frightened her. With her O.W.L. results and taking classes that determined her fate, she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. _What if I fail all my N.E.W.T. courses? What if Slughorn kicks me out of N.E.W.T. Potions? What if I never get a good job? What if the Ministry of Magic refuses to let me work? _Her head started to spin but was pulled out of her trance when she heard Marlene's voice.

"Lils! 'Ello?" Marlene waved her hand in front of Lily's face.

"What? Oh, sorry, Mar. What is it?" Lily said.

"Isn't it your shift to patrol the corridors?" Marlene asked.

"Wow, you're right. I guess I lost track of time. See you girls in a bit," Lily said, getting up and walking along the noisy corridors.

**XXX**

Severus Snape sat in a compartment by himself reading his new book on popular dark spells in fourteenth century France.

_Michelle De La Nuit, one of France's most influential witches of the dark arts, created the _Brûlez le Coeur _hex. This hex, created by De La Nuit in 1349, gives the victim the feeling of their heart and the rest of their chest on fire. When done correctly, the victim may feel the sensation for hours after the curse is lifted. Most victims die if under the hex for more than thirty seconds. Unfortunately, Michelle De La Nuit was killed shortly afterwards by a long-time enemy, using that very hex. She was eighteen years old when she died, and attending Beauxbatons._

Suddenly the door compartment flew open and Regulus Black ran in and quickly closed the door behind him. He was panting and staring at the door as though making sure it didn't hop away. Regulus turned around sharply to see Severus staring at him, his eyebrow crooked in curiosity, but otherwise looking quite indifferent.

"Oh, erm—hello, Severus," said Regulus, straightening out his robes and tie.

"Regulus," acknowledged Severus. Regulus Black was in his fifth year at Hogwarts and one of the Slytherins that Severus could actually tolerate talking to. Sure, he was not very intellectual, but Severus would rather talk to him than Nott any day of the week. Though Regulus was often annoying: talking about girls, bugging Severus to teach him some dark spells, or just being too perky. The fact that he was Sirius Black's brother was a bit unnerving, but Severus still considered him one of his only true friends.

"Sorry, I had to hide in here. I was trying to plant a dungbomb in my brother's compartment, but Evans spotted me before I could launch it, and—" Regulus explained.

"And you're supposed to be the 'good' child," muttered Severus, his eyes back on his book.

"Well I had to get back at him for tripping me on the platform," pouted Regulus.

"Oh please…anyways, rumor has it he moved out of your home this summer."

Regulus' blue eyes glinted and his mouth turned upwards into a devilish smile. "You bet he moved out. My parents torturing him all summer long finally got to him after all these years."

Severus smiled smugly; he loved to know that one of the Marauders was treated poorly,especially if it was Sirius Black"Where is the dungbomb now?" muttered Severus.

"In my pocket," said Regulus.

Severus looked up at him sharply. Regulus' eyes suddenly grew wide.

"Uh oh," said Regulus quietly. He then hastily groped around in his pocket and when it was in his fumbling hand, fell hard on the floor and after a loud "boom" the compartment began to let off a horrendous smell.

Severus and Regulus began to cough and a livid Lily Evans slammed open the compartment door. After telling off several students who were beginning to huddle around the door, she walked into the compartment and shut the door and curtains behind her.

Severus glared at Regulus, who was now staring at Lily with a look of innocence on his face. _Sometimes he reminds me of Sirius too much, _thought Severus.

_"Scourgify!"_ Lily incanted, and at once the room smelt subtly of lemon. Her arms were crossed and her lips were in a thin line, reminding Severus dreadfully of Professor McGonagall.

"Hullo, Evans!" said Regulus. His lips formed a charming smile.

"Cut out the innocent act, Black. I know you were about to throw that dungbomb in your brother's compartment. Thought I wouldn't catch you, I suppose?" Lily said, a satisfied smile on her freckled face.

"Well, maybe, but—" Regulus stammered.

"No buts! Be sure that I'll be talking to Professor Slughorn and you'll be serving a detention tonight as well." She then turned on Severus. "And you. You're a prefect! You should have confiscated that dungbomb the second you smelled it!"

Severus stood swiftly and unconsciously reached for his wand. "What are you going to do, Evans? Give me a detention?"

Lily glanced at his hand but stood her ground. "All I'm saying is that when you know a student is doing something wrong—" she gave a nasty glance at Regulus. "You confront them about it, and—"

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell me how to do my job, Evans," snapped Severus, taking a step closer to her.

Lily instinctively stepped back. He was about six feet tall and although she herself was five foot seven inches, next to him she could not help but feel around four feet tall. "I won't have to tell you how to do your job if you actually do it, Snape!" said Lily coldly.

"Evans, I'll go to Slughorn and request a detention when we get to school. Happy now? Now you can go freshen up in your compartment with your friends. You look a bit sweaty," said Regulus, putting that charming smile on his face again. Heaving a large sigh, Lily gave up and walked back to her compartment.

Regulus slid the door shut and sat down in his seat as though nothing happened. "Glad that's over. That's one relentless Mudblood, huh?" Severus nodded and sat back down to read his book. "But she sure is nice to look at, huh?"

Severus looked at Regulus. "Her? Attractive? You've got to be kidding."

Regulus shrugged. "Suit yourself. Nevertheless, there is really no use denying it. The summer hols have been nice to her." Regulus had a silly, suggestive smile on his face. _This kid thinks I don't understand the sexual innuendo in his statement, _Severus thought with an audible snort.

"What? It has been. I mean she's still a disgusting Mudblood, but she's quite attractive," Regulus said.

"Sure, Regulus. Stick to your dungbomb planting," Severus said.

With that, Severus went back his book about French dark spells of the fourteenth century, yet he couldn't quite get his mind around what Regulus had said. _She really hasn't changed in the slightest. She has the same dark red hair, same freckles, and same green eyes. A bit taller but other than that, nothing new. _Severus promptly became a bit disturbed with the fact that he had actually noticed that Lily had gotten taller, but assured himself, _Anyone could have noticed that, right? Right._

* * *

A/N 2: So what did you guys think? Did I do a good job on Regulus? What about Lily's friends? Next chapter has the Marauders so I'm excited, but for the Marauders haters out there, you have been warned. Next chapter should be up soon! 


	3. Return to Hogwarts

A/N: It's JKR's world, I just mess with it.

* * *

_**X Return to Hogwarts**_

"Firs' years over here!" Hagrid, the Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts, called out over the frenzy of students and shouting. It was raining harder than ever as several timid first years made their way over Hagrid - whose usually bright pink and yellow polka dot umbrella managed to look dark in the torrential weather.

"Come on, you lot. Go over to Hagrid. No, he won't eat you, dear. Just please let's get the platform cleared," said Lily as she helped the first years move towards Hagrid. _They aren't going to like that boat ride, _thought Lily as she watched Hagrid and the first years' silhouettes move toward a familiar narrow path into the thick dark trees.

"Hello, Evans," said a voice. Those words sent a strange shiver up her spine and the warmth of the air on her ear was comforting. Lily turned around and to her horror was facing a soaked James Potter grinning and messing up his wet hair.

"Potter! Don't sneak up on me like that," Lily muttered and continued to help the first years find their boats.

"How was your summer?" James asked, ignoring her.

"Fine," Lily said shortly. "Potter, I'm trying to help out the students, so if you don't mind—"

"Evans, you know you don't mind me hanging out around you. I can see it in your eyes…your beautiful green eyes," said James, perhaps attempting to be poetic.

Lily blushed despite herself. She had always known James was charming - but this was a bit too much, in her opinion. He never said that she was beautiful…well, to her face, that is. "You must be blind, because my eyes have big, glaring, yellow signs that say 'piss off' in them. Now if you'll excuse me," Lily growled, pushed past him, and walked towards the horseless carriages to find her friends.

**XXX**

"When will I get Harold back, sir?" asked a small blonde girl.

"Your, erm, Harold, is currently in the pet's compartment and will be in your dormitory after the feast," replied Severus. _Why do little girls with disgustingly high-pitched voices keep talking to me today? _

"Thank you!" said the little girl.

Severus walked towards the carriages and settled down in an empty one. He then rummaged through his satchel and searched for his Potions book. He wrote everything in that book. He corrected it, he wrote down short notes - he even created new spells and sketched them down in it. To his dismay, it was nowhere to be found. _Must have put it in my trunk for once, I suppose._

The carriage door opened and Severus instinctively put his hand in his pocket and felt for his wand, just in case it was Potter or Black. Demetrius Nott entered the carriage instead.

"Severus! How are you, mate?" Demetrius asked in a cheery manner. After sharing a dormitory with him for five years, the little things that Demetrius did (like the way he prepared for bed, the way he greeted people, and even the way he brushed his hair) made him terribly annoying.

"Fine," Severus said shortly.

"Did you two hear?" Nott asked with a glint in his eye.

"Hear what?" asked Narcissa Black, who just entered the carriage as well. Her blonde hair was matted and soaked but as soon as she sat down, she performed the drying charm on her hair and unnecessarily swished it around.

"Your 'boyfriend' got the Dark Mark," replied Demetrius.

"No way! That's wicked!" squealed Narcissa with one of the biggest smiles that Severus had ever seen.

"What's wicked?" asked Evan Rosier. Evan was another one of the people that Severus could sometimes consider a friend. He had always been a pompous, pure-blood fanatic, and a bit too fond of the opposite sex.

"Lucius received the Dark Mark from the Dark Lord!" Narcissa squealed. "When did this happen, Demetrius? We haven't talked in about a month. He said he's been busy."

"About a week ago, Narcissa. Killed a Muggle to celebrate," Demetrius laughed.

Everyone laughed heartily, except for Severus. On the contrary, he felt a bit sick. Killing helpless Muggles never appealed to him. However he couldn't deny that he was curious about being a part of "the Dark Lord's" service. Severus didn't consider himself racist against Muggles or Muggle-borns - he thought they were immaterial, and he didn't mind insulting them; but he couldn't see himself murdering anyone. Power is what he was interested in. Evan constantly told him about the enormous amounts of power that the Dark Lord's followers had and, although he didn't tend to show it, he was intrigued.

Severus assumed that the Dark Lord only let pure-bloods into his ranks, however. Severus, and only a couple of other students, knew that he was a half-blood (apparently pure-bloods had an odd enthrallment with family trees and the surname "Snape" was nowhere to be found on their tapestries). He was surprised to be accepted by most of them, but he assumed it was his attitude that made him respected, not to mention being the interest of Lucius Malfoy and other older pure-bloods in his first year. His talent was also well known, as well as his fascination in the dark arts. _If you are interested in the dark arts, any Slytherin is your friend, it seems,_ he mused.

As the laughter died down everyone was looking at him as though he was a very tricky puzzle. So they wouldn't strain themselves so far that they would explode, Severus gave a small smile, which seemed to please the rest and their petty conversation continued.

"Bellatrix showed that Mudblood Evans who's boss on the platform," Narcissa said with a nasty smile and recalled the events on the platform. "Sorry she got her muck all over you, Severus. We didn't mean for her to be so clumsy, but now that I think about it, I'm not that surprised."

Severus merely grunted while the others snickered.

"That Evans sure has become a bit attractive over summer, though," said Demetrius.

Narcissa looked as though she swallowed a spider. "That Mudblood? Attractive? Oh please!"

"She's simply grimy, of course. Disgusting too, but she's still got some…positive attributes," said Demetrius in the same sly manner as Regulus had earlier.

The carriages started to make their way up to Hogwarts and while the others made jokes about Mudbloods and Muggles, Severus stared out the window lost in thought.

**XXX**

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! To our newly sorted students, welcome! To our returning students, glad to have you all back. I'd like to remind you that that the Forbidden Forest is…as it is called, forbidden…and Quidditch tryouts should occur within the next month or so. So without further ado, let the feast commence!" declared Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

Food popped onto the long tables in the great hall and all the students, with glee, started to pile on potatoes, chicken, carrots, and all the other various foods.

"I broke up with William in July. We're still friends, but all he could talk about was Quidditch," Emmeline told Alice.

"And what's wrong with Quidditch, Emmeline?" asked Marlene, sounding quite offended.

"Nothing is wrong with Quidditch, Marlene. I just prefer to talk about something other than the Chudley Cannons' record-breaking season," Emmeline said.

"Well they did do quite well last season, didn't they, Prongs?" asked Sirius Black as he sat down next to Lily.

"Eh, they did alright," replied James, unceremoniously squeezing in-between Sirius and Lily. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew and snickered at James' awkwardness and sat across from the girls.

"Hello Lily, Alice, Marlene…Emmeline," said Lupin.

"Remus," replied Emmeline with a smile.

Peter nudged Remus in the ribs and Remus, blushing, began to pick at a piece of pie on his plate.

"So…Evans," said James as he tried to snake his arm around her waist. "Hogsmeade weekend is coming up in October, and—"

"And you are more desperate than ever, you were about to say?" Lily said with a fake smile as she wriggled out of his grip.

"No," he said, looking a bit embarrassed. "I wanted to know if you would go with me. I'm sure loads of guys are going to be asking you."

"And the answer is, as usual, no, Potter."

James frowned. "Will you at least give me a chance, Evans? I really want to go with you, so—"

"I'll think about it, Potter," Lily said reluctantly.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm in Lily's voice, James didn't seem to care. He grinned at Sirius, who smirked back and continued to eat his pudding.

_He just won't give up, will he? But I can't help but feel bad for him. _She glanced at James and saw that he was currently having an eating match with Peter. Pudding was flying everywhere and she looked at him with disgust. _Or maybe I don't. _James made a noise of triumph and looked at Lily; his face was covered with pudding and Lily could see bits of it on his long nose, glasses, and even on a stand of hair. His large beam didn't make him look any better.

"If you think an eating competition will seal the deal you have another think coming, Potter," Lily said.

**XXX**

Severus ate quickly. He was starving - the only thing he'd eaten all day was the chocolate frog that Lily gave to him on the train. He finished before everyone else and his eyes began to wander around the Great Hall.

Slughorn was talking merrily with Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore was chuckling at a joke that Professor Flitwick had made. A few tables down he spotted James Potter squeezing in between Lily and Sirius. His blood began to boil as he remembered what happened just months ago. Trying to push the memory out of his head he began to watch Lily. She looked unhappy about James' advances and he couldn't help but be satisfied. _At least she's smart about her opinion of Potter. _He watched as she tucked her hair behind her ear and begun to talk with AliceShe then stood up with her plate of pudding and moved over to sit next to Marlene after James started to finger her hair.

"Finally come to your senses?" whispered Regulus. _When did he get there?_

"What are you talking about?" Severus muttered. He knew he was talking about Lily though.

"Okay, at least admit that she has a nice figure," suggested Regulus.

Severus glanced at Lily again. Wizarding robes usually left much to the imagination, but most girls wore their robes a bit tighter than traditional

"I don't know. She's not ghastly, are you satisfied?" said Severus with irritancy.

Regulus smirked, again resembling Sirius too much for his liking. "Yup. Oh well, not like we are pursuing anything. I mean, she's a Mudblood - her parents are…Muggles!" he said with an utter look of disgust on his face. "How can she even live with that muck? It amazes me, really. Like my mother always says, one of the best ways to judge someone is by their parents. And looking at Evans, well, draw your own conclusion."

"What about your brother? Should I judge him based on your parents, too?" Severus asked, just to find a loophole.

Regulus was quiet for a moment before turning around and spotting Sirius laughing at something James said. He made a face and turned back to Severus. "As far as I'm concerned, I have no brother."

* * *

A/N: Poor Regulus. It was sad to write that. So, Severus is noticing Lily a bit but still not pining. And, sorry guys, he won't be for while. I don't like rushing into things, especially with a character like Severus. He's so mysterious and layered that I can't just have him pining over Lily…yet. My goal is to make Severus as "leave me alone I'm doing Potions. Girls, whatever, I'd rather be spending my time doing something productive" as possible at the moment. But believe me, guys, it's going to get a bit more angst-ridden soon. I hope I'm characterising Lily well enough. I really enjoy writing her character because, well, I suppose it's a bit easy since she is a girl like I am. Severus is harder but I enjoy writing about him too.

**Sakura'n'Saber –**I used a _Land Before Time_ quote? Where? Anyways I'm glad you like the story so far. Yep, Snape is pretty skinny, but I always pictured him being that way. And yes, Snape is quite oblivious to his feelings, but that will change eventually. Not dramatically anytime soon…but just wait.


	4. Knickers and Books

Disclaimer: If I was JKR, I wouldn't be writing fan fiction.

A/N: sorry it took so long to update, I've been working on this chapter for a bit over a week now and I've been trying as hard as I could to get this out so here you are. I decided to up the rating for language so yeah. Enjoy.

* * *

_**X Knickers and Books**_

The moment the food was cleared, Severus had to lead ten extremely perky girls and boys to the Slytherin common room. As they walked out of the Great Hall, Severus turned around, wondering where Narcissa was. To his total lack of surprise, Narcissa and Sirius were exchanging a few colourful words to each other over by the Gryffindor table. He told the kids curtly to wait and walked over to the bickering Blacks.

"Heard from your Death Eater in training of a boyfriend? Or is he too busy killing Muggles and Muggle-borns to pay you a visit?" said Sirius Black casually. Behind him, James and Peter looked at Narcissa with harsh expressions.

"Oh, I'm sure he is. Such a noble duty, in my opinion. But you wouldn't know about such nobility, would you, blood traitor?" replied Narcissa with a cold smile on her face.

"Him, noble?" Sirius let out a barking laugh. "As noble as my—"

"Well, well, well. Do my eyes betray me, or do I see Sirius back-talking to a prefect?" drawled Snape.

"You call this load of pure-blood trash a prefect, Snivellus?" asked Sirius with a smile on his face. Narcissa grabbed her wand, as did James and Sirius.

"I think twenty points off Gryffindor would be reasonable; now go up to your common room," Severus said.

"Shut up, Snivellus!" snapped James while pushing Severus in the chest. Severus grabbed for his wand but Professor McGonagall stepped in.

"Boys…and Miss Black," added McGonagall when Narcissa cleared her throat. "Severus and Narcissa, you are supposed to lead the first years to the Slytherin common room. And you three, up to the Gryffindor common room at once or I myself will have to take points off."

"No need, Professor, Snivellus already did," grumbled James, he and Severus glaring daggers at each other.

"Enough, go now!" barked McGonagall as she pointed to the entrance of the Great Hall.

"You'll regret taking those points off, Snivellus," growled James as he purposely walked into Severus' shoulder along with Sirius, who gave one last glare at Narcissa. Peter walked after them.

"I despise that disgusting little blood traitor. He's making the Blacks look bad, that one. Well, come on, Severus," Narcissa ordered.

With that they led the newly-sorted Slytherins to the common room.

As soon as Severus walked in, he was greeted by a roaring fire and students chattering. He spotted Bellatrix by the fire with a few third year boys surrounding her, while the older Slytherin males looked at the third years with jealousy. Not wanting to be bothered, Severus made his way up to his dormitory. The minute he opened the door, Demetrius was ran up to him.

"How was it?" he asked quickly.

"How was what?" Severus asked. He looked around and saw that his trunk was open. "Do you have any respect for people's privacy?" Severus stopped talking as soon as he took another glance at Nott and saw what he was holding. "What the bloody hell is that!"

"I should be asking you the same thing, mate," Demetrius was holding what a pair of what looked like red women's knickers. Demetrius' eyes were huge and he had a big smile on his face. "Well? Who was it?"

"What do you mean? They're not mine, you idiot!"

"Well, I assumed that much, but they were in your trunk so I assumed they belonged to the girl you must have shagged," Nott said.

"First of all, Nott, I didn't shag anyone," said Severus, gritting his teeth. The expression on Nott's face turned into confusion. "Second of all, I have no idea how those knickers got into my trunk. And third of all, never search my trunk for the hell of it ever again!"

Severus' eyes went wide with realization.

"Well? Whose are they?"

"Evans…" Severus said, his face redder and angrier than ever.

"YOU SHAGGED EVANS? How was she, mate? Are these a present or something?"

"I DID NOT SHAG HER! Get your head out of the gutter, Nott. On the platform, she ran into me and our trunks opened and we both grabbed the nearest thing—"

Severus stopped midsentence again and hastily searched through his trunk. "Where is it? Where the hell is it?"

"What you've got more in there?" asked Demetrius. "I only got four this summer."

"NO! My book…my Potions book. It's gone…so are a few of my other books!" Severus.

"What's with all the yelling?" asked Evan Rosier, accompanied by Oleander Wilkes, who looked at the current scene: Demetrius holding a pair of red underwear and Severus rummaging through his trunk with a furrowed brow.

"Snape shagged Evans," Demetrius said promptly.

"Shut your mouth. I didn't shag Evans, but that—" he yelled pointing at the knickers, which Demetrius hovered around Evan's head - "and a few other articles of clothing belonging to her, got into my trunk."

"Ugh, when are you going to give the Mudblood her clothes back?" asked Wilkes with a look of disgust and amusement plastered on his face.

"I don't know," Severus muttered.

"Well, I think we can use this to our advantage, boys," Evan said.

"What, you mean to embarrass Evans?" asked Wilkes.

"Precisely, Oley."

"I keep telling you, just call me Wilkes!"

"Anyways, what could we do?"

Demetrius, Evan, and Wilkes were brainstorming. Severus didn't want to have any part in it though. _Typical Slytherins at work, I see, _Severus thought with a slight smile.

"This is something that Potter and those nimrods he calls friends would do, and I have no desire to mimic them. If you lot will shut up I'll let you decide what to do with the knickers. But I'm giving her the rest of her clothes," Severus muttered.

"Oi! Let's burn them!" yelled Wilkes.

"That's boring, Wilkes," said Evan.

"It's alright, we'll invite Bellatrix and Narcissa and it'll be a big laugh."

"Sure, whatever," Demetrius said and grabbed the knickers and ran down the stairs with Wilkes and Evan in his wake.

Severus shook his head at their stupidity and prepared for bed.

_If anything happens to that book, she'll be sorry, _he thought before drifting into a deep sleep.

**XXX**

"Lily, I love your nightgown! Very…elegant," approved Alice as the girls changed into their bed clothes.

"It looks like you're getting ready to sleep with a lover, if you ask me," Marlene scoffed, sporting a button-up polka dot top with matching pants.

"Marlene, you look very Muggle right now, just so you know," noticed Lily.

"Well, witches _do_ sport Muggle bed clothes a lot of the time. Just most of the girls at Hogwarts are just really girly," Marlene said with a shudder.

"Lily, are you really considering going to Hogsmeade with James?" asked Emmeline.

Lily searched her trunk for her brush, "I don't know. He's so desperate, and he's been trying to ask me out for years now and—where's that bloody brush?"

She decided to take everything out of her trunk and look again.

"Lily, why do you have two Potions books? And why is that one so beat up?" asked Alice.

"What? I don't have two Potions books," Lily said, continuing to search her trunk.

"Then why do I see two Potions books next to your bum? And Lily! Why do you have _that?" _Alice cried, pointing to a small black book titled _Darker the Arts, Darker the Wizard _as though it were a large bug. "Since when were you interested with the Dark Arts?"

Lily looked in Alice's line of vision and discovered the many books that were definitely not hers. Then it hit her.

"Snape."

"Snape? What's that grease ball got to do with anything?" said Marlene bluntly while Emmeline and Alice giggled.

"Marlene, please. Remember what I told you about Bellatrix and me slipping into Snape and our trunks opening? Well, I must have grabbed some of his stuff. And maybe he has my hairbrush—I also notice that a few of my blouses are missing and—" Lily then turned a shade as bright as her hair.

"And what?" asked Emmeline, noticing Lily's vibrant cheeks.

"My knickers…he has my knickers!" cried Lily. _Out of all the people of Hogwarts, Severus Snape has my knickers…in his trunk…_

After a few seconds of silence, the three girls began to laugh so hard that Lily was sure they could be heard in the Three Broomsticks.

"Shut up! All of you!" squealed Lily, grabbing her pillow and bonking each of the laughing girls on the head. "This is so embarrassing!" Lily muttered as she fell onto her comfortable four-poster bed, burying her head into her cold pillow, hoping it would cool off her burning cheeks.

"Sorry…Lily…we…didn't…mean to!" gasped Alice, while Marlene was still barking with laughter and Emmeline was trying to conceal her giggles.

"I said shut up!" said Lily's muffled voice in the pillow. "How am I going to do this?"

After the girls calmed down, Marlene spoke up, "I don't know, Lily, but don't worry about it now. Sleep on it and you'll find out in the morning."

Agreeing with Marlene, she, Alice, and Emmeline got into their beds and waited to fall asleep.

Once three minutes of silence had passed within the room Lily heard Marlene snort and put on a high pitched voice, "Snape, do you mind giving me back my knickers? I would really appreciate it. What? You thought they were yours?" Emmeline and Alice cracked up once again and Lily groaned and quickly went to sleep.

**XXX**

_He was in a field of waist high grass. The sky was overcast and the clouds were threatening to unleash rain upon the meadow. He was running but didn't know where to go. Up ahead was a dense forest and mountains. To the east was a river, to the south and west were more grassland. He decided to continue forward. What was he after? Why was he running? Up ahead he saw the silhouette of a figure. Male or female, he didn't know, but they were running as well. He ran faster and faster and finally saw the figure more clearly. It wore a white sundress so he assumed it was a female. She wore a waist-length hooded black coat which bellowed as she ran. He ran faster to catch up to her and touched her shoulder…_

Severus awoke with a start. _That was a strange dream, _he thought, and quickly got dressed and grabbed his satchel to get a quick bite of breakfast when he remembered the events of last night.

"Damn," he scowled. He conjured up a sack and opened his trunk and, using _Wingardem Leviosa, _levitated a few woman's shirts and a hairbrush into the sack and left his dorm.

He walked into the Great Hall and sat down at the Slytherin table next to Regulus Black.

"Merlin, Severus. Did your pet die or something?" inquired Regulus as he ate an apple.

"No," mumbled Severus. He really wasn't in the mood to talk to Regulus right now. He was wondering how he was going to give Lily's clothes back to her.

"Well guess what? Slughorn asked me to join the Slug Club this morning! Wicked huh?"

"Not really."

"Well, we get to have those exclusive parties and have food. So what's not to like?"

Severus shrugged and grabbed a piece of dry toast and started to eat it when Professor Slughorn scurried up to him.

"Severus! How are you this lovely morning?" Slughorn said cheerfully.

Severus looked up at the ceiling of the great hall and saw that it was quite overcast. He frowned. "Fine, professor."

"Well, about your schedule," Slughorn started as he shuffled through papers. "Your O.W.L. results were fantastic, as I'm sure you saw in July. So this year you will be taking Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, and, of course, Potions! Have you thought about what you want to do after you leave school?"

"Sorry, sir, I can't say I have thought about it very much," replied Severus truthfully.

"Funny, a few sixth and seventh years don't really know what they want to do either. Oh well. See you this afternoon," Slughorn said.

Severus watched him walk away and approach a yawning Evan Rosier. He knew why those Slytherins didn't know what they wanted to do. He was positive that they didn't care because they thought they would be serving the Dark Lord as soon as they graduated. Severus then got up, said good-bye to Regulus, and quickly left the Great Hall so that he could sit outside of the Transfiguration room before classes begun…in twenty minutes, without the proper book. _She has my Potions book, my Transfiguration book, and my Dark Arts book. What else does she have? My mother in her trunk? _Severus thought. He suddenly regretted the thought of his mother and waited in vain for the bell to ring so that he could receive his book from Evans.

**XXX**

Lily Evans was not happy. She was pleased that she got all the classes that she wanted but she was angry about the fact that not only did she have to approach Severus so that she could get her clothes back, but her shoulder was about to fall off due to the extra twenty pounds of books in her shoulder bag. After eating a bowl of cereal, chatting briefly with Remus about prefect duties, and telling off James after getting her schedule, she promptly went to wait for her first period class to begin: Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall.

When she climbed a couple flights of stairs and turned around the corner she spotted, who else, Severus Snape sitting outside of the Transfiguration classroom. Severus looked up and the moment he saw her, frowned. _Great, this is turning out to be a fabulous first day, _Lily thought as she walked towards him, biting her lip nervously.

"Snape?" Lily said softly.

"I think you have a few books that belong to me, Evans," he said sharply. "I have a few items that belong to you."

Lily turned a bright shade of red. "Yes, yes, I have a few of your books," she said as she opened her shoulder bag and handed the heavy tomes to Severus. He grabbed them possessively and placed them in his satchel. "You know, my room-mates were a bit confused when they saw some of those books. They thought I was interested in the Dark Arts or something…but then I remembered what happened on the platform and—"

"You talk too much," Severus interrupted.

"Sorry. Anyways, I think you said you have some stuff that belongs to me?" said Lily sounding more comfortable than she felt.

"Yes," And he pulled out the clothes-filled pack from his satchel. "Here." He handed over the sack and began to read one of his books. Lily looked through it to make sure that all of her belongings were in there and they were…except for one pair of knickers.

"Snape, are you sure this was all that you found in your trunk?" Lily asked.

"No," he replied simply

"Well, where would my other belongings be?" Lily said.

"Not here," Severus said.

"Oh?" Lily inquired, starting to get suspicious.

"Would you like me to be terribly blunt, Evans?" asked Severus quickly. Lily opened her mouth to speak but Severus interrupted her. "Let's just say that one of your missing belongings is now a pile of ashes in the Slytherin fireplace."

"What?" exclaimed Lily.

"Yes, that's what happens when a Muggle-born girl's knickers ends up in the sixth year Slytherin boy's room," he muttered, not looking up from his book.

"Why? It's not like it's my fault here!" she yelled.

"We shall not speak of this again, I presume?" said Severus looking through his Potions book, long curtains of hair covering most of his profile except the tip of his nose.

"Right, right," Lily said quickly. _I suppose it's just a pair of knickers,_ she thought.

There wasn't a sound to be heard except for the sound of Severus turning the pages of the tattered Potions book. Lily then plopped down next to Severus, pulling out her Transfiguration book. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Severus was looking at her with an affronted expression.

"So, what classes are you taking this year?" asked Lily conversationally.

"Why should you care, Evans?" mumbled Severus.

Lily shrugged. "Just curious."

Severus didn't answer. _Maybe he doesn't like to talk about school, _she thought, and changed the subject.

"So, how was your summer?" Lily asked.

Severus heaved a loud sigh and continued to ignore her.

"Mine was okay, I suppose," said Lily. "My sister has been hard to deal with, and my parents have become more embarrassing than ever. I'm sure you can relate to the latter, right?"

"Evans, apparently you don't realize that I'm _trying _to read!" he snapped with irritation.

"Well, excuse me for trying to make conversation, Snape! Merlin, it's as though everything and everyone irritates you. Why can't you just have a civil conversation with me?" she asked heatedly.

"Why are you trying to make conversation with me in the first place? Not as though you ever did before. So why don't you stop acting as though talking to you will make me feel good about myself or some shit like that because I don't need it," Snape said ruthlessly.

"That's not what I'm trying to do, Snape," Lily said softly. "Maybe we should talk about what happened last year or something."

"I don't want to talk about what happened last year… You got involved in something that you shouldn't have gotten involved in and ruined my reputation—"

"Severus Snape worrying about his reputation?" scoffed Lily.

"You find that amusing? Want to know what _I_ find amusing? You thinking that you know me. That's what I find amusing," Severus hissed.

"This is what I mean!" Lily cried. "Snape, we are two mature, sixteen-year-old individuals. Can we please just forget last year and move on? I won't even get in your way, I won't even talk or acknowledge you if you don't want! But I just don't want you to have some personal vendetta against someone who was only trying to save you from a couple of idiots."

"Shut up, all you did was butt in, acting like some sodding hero. We have nothing more to discuss, Evans," Severus snapped.

With that, Lily stopped talking, but she was burning inside. All she wanted to do was forget about what happened, and he still too proud to act as though he had needed help. As they sat in silence, Lily took one fleeting glance at Severus and noticed that he, again, was reading his Potions book behind his long curtain of hair. She sighed and opened her new Transfiguration book, looking over what they would be learning for the next year.

**XXX**

_Who does she think she is? Acting as though she knows me, _thought Severus with disgust. He was pretending to read his Potions book and his last comment seemed to have shut Lily up so he was satisfied. He then realized how close she was sitting to him when their arms brushed. He and Lily leapt away from each other as though their arms were on fire and glared at one another before Lily moved to sit against the wall opposite him.

Students began to enter the corridor and began to talk loudly. A few seemed anxious while others acted bored and just began to chatter amongst themselves. A few minutes before the bell rang, a group of boys became visible walking down the corridor, and to the dismay of Severus, he discovered that those boys were James, Remus, and Sirius. How those idiots got into McGonagall's N.E.W.T.s Transfiguration class, Severus had no idea. He began to read his book once more but eavesdropped to hear what the prats were saying.

"Hey, Evans," he heard James Potter say in a suave voice. _Probably running his hand through his hair,_ thought Severus. He glanced up and saw that he was correct. James was standing close to a sitting Lily Evans, running his hand through his hair. Lily was ignoring him, still reading her Transfiguration book.

"What do you want, Potter?" Lily muttered. "And hello, Black, Remus."

"I wanted to know if you had thought more about the Hogsmeade weekend," James said.

"Potter, I hope you know that Hogsmeade weekend is in over a month, and that I'm sure you'll want to go with someone else by that time."

"But I know that I won't," James said.

Lily snorted. "Oh yeah? You have quite a few girls who I know are dying to go with you." _And there is one girl who is dying for you to leave,_ she thought.

"I don't care, because I just want to be with you, Evans, you know that," James said softly.

"Stop trying to sweet talk me, Potter." And with that, Lily stood up and moved away.

"Will you ever give up, Prongs?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, you've liked her since second year," said Remus.

"Nope, I'm not giving up. Lily Evans will love me, mates, just wait and see. She looks beautiful today, doesn't she?"

Severus let out an obnoxious snort. _What an imbecile._

James Potter turned around and spotted Severus Snape reading his Potions book next to the Transfiguration room door. Angry, he kicked the book out of Severus' hand. Sirius laughed while Remus looked pained on whether to laugh or stop his friends.

Severus leapt to grab his book when James pushed him out of the way and stole the book before Severus could reach it. He quickly stood up.

"Look, boys, it's that book that Severus cares more about than cleaning his underpants."

A few students around giggled while a Slytherin girl gave James a dirty look. Severus glanced over James' shoulder and saw that Lily was staring at the event with a look of cool indifference on her face. He and James were both quite tall and easily glared at one another in the eye.

Severus discreetly pulled out his wand and in his head said the spell for the stinging hex.

Immediately, James yelped and dropped Severus' potion book, which Severus picked up quickly. James cursed violently as he grabbed his hand, trying to nurse it. Sirius whipped out his wand but Severus, almost lazily, said _"Expelliarmus,"_ causing Sirius' wand to fly twenty feet away from him.

"Enough! Five points from Slytherin and Gryffindor," Remus finally said.

"Moony! Why take off points from Gryffindor? It's that greasy git who—" launched James, still tending his hand which was now sporting a bright red lump.

"Actually, it was you who started it, Potter," said Lily roughly. The bell rang and loud footsteps were heard coming down the corridor.

"What's with all this commotion?" asked the now present Professor McGonagall. "No magic in the corridors I hope? Well what are you all standing around for? Get inside."

James refused to look at Remus while Severus had a smug look on his face. _Maybe it's not the hex I'd been thinking of but it worked on that bastard, _thought Severus.

**XXX**

Lily's hand began to cramp as she tried to write nearly every word McGonagall was saying about N.E.W.T. Transfiguration.

"Transfiguration will be useful for nearly every possible Ministry job, if you wish to have a future career there," McGonagall said.

The door opened and in walked Wilkes. McGonagall asked him to see her after class and continued her lecture.

"Some jobs may even have you take another small Transfiguration course as part of their training. For example, Aurors—"

Lily's quill snapped, and apparently so loudly that McGonagall stopped mid-sentence. "Ms. Evans, as happy as I am that you are so eager, you don't have to risk losing your hand because of it," she said with a small smile and continued on.

Lily silently cursed herself for using such an old quill—she had bought a couple of new ones in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago, but she was so excited about classes that she had forgotten them. Opening her shoulder bag she rummaged through it—groping around the clothes Snape returned to her, her books, a few rolls of parchment, and makeup, she silently cheered as she grabbed, at the bottom of her purse, a ballpoint pen. She had gotten used to using a quill in school but sometimes couldn't help but go back to her Muggle roots and use pens. Glancing around she saw Alexander Jacobson, a Muggle-born Ravenclaw, smile at her and give an approving nod. She looked around some more, realising that Alice wasn't in the class, but suddenly remembered that Alice had been sick this morning and would miss most of the day.

"We will concentrate much of the first part of the year on human transfiguration. We will work on the theory, methods, history, and we will practice on one another a lot this year. I'll be blunt: this is not going to be an easy course. There are about thirteen of you in here today I think…" She then began to count the students—four Gryffindors, four Ravenclaws, three Slytherins, and three Hufflepuffs. "First I want everyone to read the introduction, then the first five pages of Chapter Two in your books, then find a partner. After that I want you to get started on transfiguring your partner's eyelashes. Get started."

Lily began to read about the theory of human transfiguration and was automatically hooked. Being able to change one's appearance really intrigued her. After McGonagall curtly asked the class if they had finished reading, she asked everyone to pair up. Lily walked towards Alexander but James literally leapt in front of her, running his hand through his hair.

"Evans," he said.

"Not now, Potter, I need a partner," she replied but he kept blocking her way. "This isn't funny, James! Go be partners with Sirius."

"He's partners with Moony," he responded quickly. James glanced towards Sirius and Remus' table. Lily noticed that Sirius had a thumb up.

"Oh so you want to be my partner, Potter?" she asked sweetly.

James smiled, "Yes, I'd love for you to be my partner."

Lily clicked her tongue. "I'm sorry Potter, but I'd rather snog the giant squid…you remember me mentioning him a while back don't you?" and she pushed past him and asked Alexander to be her partner, which he consented to. She felt a little bad, but she couldn't stand to imagine herself collaborating up with James. He might be smart, but he was clumsy around her, and she didn't want to end up with eyelashes on her chin.

"Want to get started then?" asked Alexander.

Lily smiled. "Love to."

**XXX**

Severus liked working by himself more than anything, but when he had to have a partner, he usually only partnered up with Slytherins. Yet there were only three Slytherins in this class and two of them were partnered up.

"Who still doesn't have a partner?" McGonagall asked briskly.

James was standing by a nearby desk looking uncomfortable and raised his hand.

_No._

"Snape? What about you?"

_NO._

"Snape, Potter, you two pair up and start eyelash transfiguration and get to work," she snapped.

"NO!" Snape and James said at the same time. A few students giggled, some gasped. His eyes darted around the room. Black and Lupin looked surprised; Evans watched as though seeing something amusing on the telly.

"What do you mean 'no'? You two will not waste my, your classmates', or your own time with silly differences. Now get to work," McGonagall said firmly.

"Professer McGonagall, I can't—"

"Quiet, Mr. Potter. No more of this. Get to work."

"But Professor—" Severus complained.

"NOW!"

Severus was livid. Potter trudged over to where Severus was seated and abruptly dropped his belongings on the table.

"I'm just as upset as you are, so let's just get this over with," Severus muttered, trying to contain his anger as best he could.

"I should be sitting next to Evans right now, not a greasy, snivelling git like you," James grumbled, looking irately at Lily and Alexander laughing and changing the shape of their eyelashes.

"Shut up. She was smart to not be your partner, you dunderhead," mumbled Severus.

"You shut up, you—"

"Boys! Get to work or you will both be receiving a detention with Filch tonight!" McGonagall snapped from her desk.

"Let's get this over with," Severus murmured.

They both sat down and Severus brought out his wand.Severus smirked while Potter sat across from him with a frown on his face.

"Hold still," Severus muttered. He recalled what the text about Eyelash changing said: _If uttered incorrectly, you will feel a strong burning sensation._

Purposely, Severus uttered the spell wrong.

"Ouch! You did that on purpose, you idiot!" yelled James.

"No I just said it incorrectly. Sorry, I'll try that again," Severus said evenly. He said the spell incorrectly again.

"Ouch!" James then quickly took out his wand, pointing it at Severus.

"Again, it was a mistake," said Severus with a serious face. He knew that James didn't believe him but he didn't care.

"Fuck that, Snape!" snarled James, pointing his wand at the tip of Severus' long nose.

"Get your wand out of my face, Potter. Unless you want that wand lodged permanently up your—" sneered Severus loudly.

"James Potter and Severus Snape!" started McGonagall. But James lost his temper and quickly said, _"Cruentus!"_ Severus' nose started to gush with blood. Severus held his nose but sent a nonverbal hex at James, causing him to, unwillingly, bang his head on the hard, wood table. James cursed loudly and clutched his head.

"DETENTION! BOTH OF YOU!" yelled McGonagall. She swiftly turned to Lily, "Ms. Evans. Please accompany Mr. Potter and Mr. Snape to the hospital wing. I expected better from you, Severus, you are a prefect after all! Now, all three of you, get out of my sight!"

Severus grabbed his bloodstained satchel and book and stormed out of the classroom. James did the same and Lily, apprehensively, walked out of the room after them.

"You two are just too much, you know that," Lily said.

"Shut up, Evans," said Severus as he walked quickly in front of the other two.

"Don't tell her to shut up, arse!" James yelled but quickly regretted the action and clutched his head in agony.

"Potter, watch your language! And Snape, hold still," Lily said, trying to catch up to Severus. She grabbed hold of his satchel and said, _"Scourgify," _and the bloodstains were gone. She then rummaged through her own bag and fished out a tissue. "Hold your nose with this so it will help stop the bleeding."

Severus eyed the tissue suspiciously but then grabbed it and held it up to his nose.

"There," Lily said with a smile. Severus glared at her. _Again, coming to my rescue. She honestly doesn't get a hint, does she? _

"Not so loud!" James said as they walked up the stairs to the hospital wing, the sound of Lily's heeled shoes making resounding clunking noises with each step. When they reached the wing, Madame Pomfrey went straight to work muttering "Children these days, getting into fights over spilled potion!" She uttered a spell which quickly stopped Severus' nosebleed and gave James a potion for his headache and healed a bruise which was slowly forming on his forehead.

"Dear? You are in here for what, exactly? You look fine. Are the painters in? Got cramps?" asked Madame Pomfrey bluntly.

Severus and James looked at Lily with ignorant repulsion. Lily blushed, "No, just escorting these two so they wouldn't murder each other on their way here."

"Very well then. You and he," Madame Pomfrey said, pointing at Severus, "can go now. Potter, is it? Mr. Potter will be in here a bit longer. The first dose of the headache potion isn't doing the trick. Hurry up you two. Out, out!" and she pushed Lily and Severus out of the room.

After looking at each other uncomfortably they both headed back to Transfiguration, although the class would surely be just about done when they got there.

"Boys are so stupid," Lily said, not caring that she was walking alongside one.

"Why couldn't you just be his damned partner? Would have saved a lot of trouble," Severus said hotly.

"Because I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon than be his partner for a month," Lily said with a slight smile.

"Well I'd rather listen to the bloody Beatles than be his—"

"You know who the Beatles are?" Lily gasped.

"Erm, no, just um, heard someone talk about them. They sound like they are a terrible band," he said rather clumsily

"Oh," she said apparently convinced. "Well, they are a fabulous band. Come from Liverpool. They broke up, of course, but they are still my favourite. I have a poster of them by my bed. Marlene McKinnon finds it preposterous that it doesn't move, but—"

"I hope you know that I don't care about some silly Muggle band. And again, you talk too much," he said, frustrated with himself.

"Sorry," she said quietly. The bell rang. "Listen, I've got to go to Ancient Runes. I'm assuming that you're in Defence still, just about everyone is, so I'll see you after lunch, I guess?"

Severus knew that she probably just felt sorry for him because she thought he has no friends. He did have friends, although he preferred to be alone. He realized that she was waiting for him to speak.

"Sure," he muttered. She smiled and walked around the corner. _Damn, that girl is annoying,_ he thought as he walked back towards the Arithmancy classroom.

* * *

A/N 2: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope it was okay. I wanted a bit of mortifying humour and this was a good chapter for it in my opinion. So please Review! Thanks!

**Forever-a-Wanderer - **I hope that's interesting in a good way )

**Sakura'n'Saber - **Oh I understand that quote now! Land Before Time was major when I was like 4…good memories laugh Yes, the pudding does seem very James. I could totally see it…which is why I wrote it…erm yeah.

**JTfanaddict - **I'm really glad that you enjoy my story! I want to have a bit of the Regulus/Sirius relationship show a bit.

**OutForAWalk - **glad you like it!


	5. The Rubber Band

Disclaimer: I am not JKR…yeah

A/N: Sorry, This chapter took me a while for some reason. This chapter iss more of a filler but also gives the history of the title "Half Blood Prince".

* * *

_**X The Rubber Band**_

Lily sat in the common room with Emmeline's head rested on her lap, reading _Teen Witch Weekly _with a special feature on the all-boy group _Crushed Pensieve. _Lily didn't care for wizard bands that much—she preferred Muggle music, rock mostly, although she liked the occasional danceable song. She missed listening to her record player, which would be gathering dust until she returned home. Muggle music devices didn't work at Hogwarts—so every holiday, Lily caught up on the latest songs and hits…her little time of musical bliss. Unconsciously she began to hum to a song by Pink Floyd, drumming on Emmeline's blonde locks.

"Do you mind, Lily?" Emmeline asked with a bit of laughter in her voice as she sat up.

"Oh Emme!" Lily started dramatically. "What I'd give to listen to my Muggle music right now!"

"Well, you just have to wait a couple of months, Lily," said Marlene, who came from the girl's dormitory staircase and gracelessly plopped in the nearest chair, not minding to close her legs.

"Good thing that skirt is long, Marlene," said Lily. Marlene crossed her legs but waved it off, as if it was unnecessary.

"Where's the squirt?" Marlene asked.

"Really, I'd like to know why you call her squirt, too," Emmeline interjected.

"Last time I saw her she was talking with Snivellus," said Marlene with a snort, ignoring Emmeline. "I was going to step in but she seemed to handle herself quite well—"

"THE NERVE OF THAT INSOLENT GREASY BASTARD!" shrieked Alice who had just stormed through the portrait hole. "I'm glad I wasn't in class today…I don't think I could stand to see his greasy little—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Alice. What happened?" asked Emmeline. Marlene looked at Alice with eager eyes; Lily frowned.

"After I left the hospital wing—"

"Wait, you were in the hospital wing this entire time?" asked Lily confusedly.

"Yes…" Alice said, a bit annoyed by being interrupted. "But I was resting in one of the beds, the curtains were drawn and I was sleeping,"

"Oh, I see. That explains me not seeing you. I had to escort Snape and Potter to the hospital wing during Transfiguration," Lily explained.

"What happened?" Alice asked.

"Not important right now, please continue," Lily said.

"Well, when I was leaving the hospital wing, I caught sight of Snape and I decided to ask what our Transfiguration homework is. He looked at me like I was a piece of dirt. You know the way his lip curls?" Alice started, and her friends nodded. "Well he said, 'Looks like the aspiring Auror isn't up to par', so I shot back, 'Looks like Lucius Malfoy's lap-dog is missing his master', so then—"

A bark like laughter filled the common room and the girls turned around suddenly. Sirius Black was laughing hysterically, holding his side. James was seen smiling like a five-year-old with a pound of sugar quills.

"Good one, Neilson! Mind if I steal it for future use?" asked Sirius, still laughing.

Alice smiled reluctantly, "Sure thing, Black. Anyways, he just scowled and went away…I think my comment got to him."

"Even if you were talking about Snape circa first year…" said Lily softly.

"Why are you defending him so much, Evans?" asked James nastily. "He's never been nice to you. And he's an arse to your own friends."

"Potter, don't start with me," Lily warned.

James smirked, walked over to the couch Lily was seated in, and plopped down between Lily and Emmeline, putting his arm around Lily's shoulders, "Start with what, Evans?" he whispered into her ear.

Lily blushed, "Get off me NOW, Potter, before I hex that hand off my shoulder," she snapped.

"Whatever you say." And with that he got up and sat down on the floor next to her legs.

"I hear you got into a bit of trouble with Snape, James," Marlene said.

James frowned. "Stupid git, did the eyelash changing spell wrong on purpose." He looked up at Lily. "You know, if you were my partner, none of this would have had to happen. I also wouldn't have had to have four doses of headache potion."

"Snape said the same thing," she said. James pouted and rested his head against Lily's legs.

"Your legs are really smooth, Evans," he said with a hit of a daze in his voice.

"I told you to get off Potter!" she yelled as she nudged him off.

The common room became more and more crowded and to her rescue, Remus and Peter came through the portrait hole, distracting James from Lily. Lily noticed that Emmeline was sitting up a bit straighter, constantly glancing in Remus' direction. Lily was not the only one to notice, though; Marlene and Alice were watching Emmeline with interest.

"Could you be any more obvious?" Lily whispered to Emmeline.

"What are you talking about?" Emmeline said in a startled voice.

"I know that you fancy Remus," she said with a smile.

"What are you talking about? I do not," Emmeline said, blushing. "Wow, look at the time, better start studying for Muggle Studies! Want to help me, Lily?"

"Sorry, I have a bit of a headache."

With that Emmeline left for the library and Lily smiled when she saw that Remus, soon after, left through the portrait hole as well.

**XXX**

"Oi, Wilkes! Tell that Muggle joke again will you?" requested Demetrius Nott from across the common room.

Snape was lying down on a plush green couch with a damp cloth over his forehead. Why it was there, he didn't know, but it felt comfortable on his warm face.

"Hey, Severus," whispered a voice. Severus, always quite jumpy, immediately whipped out his wand and discovered that it was pointed at one of the most annoying girls in his year: Amelia Bulstrode. She was of regular height and very skinny, with the same hairstyle as a Muggle actress he's seen on television—Farrah Fawcett—but Amelia's hair was a dark brown, unlike the actress'. She had blue eyes and was quite attractive, but she was considered easy or a tease by much of the male student body. That didn't stop her from being one of the most popular girls in school, usually seen with Narcissa Black and other stuck up girls in Ravenclaw and sometimes Hufflepuff. Severus despised the girl, and he knew that she probably hated him too.

"Hello, Bulstrode," said Severus stiffly, now sitting instead of reclining.

Amelia let out a little simper, "Oh Severus, you've known me for six years now. Call me Amelia."

"Whatever…Amelia."

Amelia sat down, too close for comfort, next to Severus. "You know, you've gotten a bit cute over the summer," she said softly.

"Liar," Severus replied.

"Maybe it's something you've done with your hair," she whispered, twisting a lock of his hair around her finger. Severus slapped her hand off and she stopped, but her smirk was still plastered on her face.

"You obviously want something," Severus said. "Do you need help with homework or something?"

"Wow, you're really are one of the smartest boys in our year," Amelia replied dully, reaching for her bag filled with books and parchment.

"And you're really one of the most tarty girls in our year," Severus snapped. "Next time you want me to help you with something, don't touch me. Actually, don't ask me to help you in general."

Severus got up quickly and went into his room. Today had been long and horribly tiring. Not only was Potty his partner in Transfiguration, but Slughorn decided to assign seats in his N.E.W.T.s class. The man decided to place his favourite students together: him and Evans.

"_Oh, I'm sure you two will be great seated next to each other! Two of my best students, sharing tools and giving each other hints! Oh this shall be a very exciting lesson indeed!" Slughorn whispered to Lily and Severus excitedly. Lily had a polite smile while Severus looked at Slughorn with the briefest of smiles._

"_Funny how this works out, huh?" said Lily, albeit coldly._

"_Not really," he replied._

"_Well, we should get started and get our ingredients," Lily said._

_They both got up to the cupboard to get their ingredients. Severus rarely listened to what Slughorn said in class and didn't even know which Potion they were concocting. He glanced at the board and saw that 'Draught of Living Death'_ _was written on the board. He sighed and got his ingredients and saw that Lily neatly placed her ingredients on her side of the table. _At least she's tidy, _he thought as he looked around to see Potter's workspace already disorganized. He sat down and placed his ingredients neatly as well and opened his Advanced Potions book, which already had a few notes in it and crossed out lines. After about ten minutes, he looked at his instructions again:_

Cut the sopophorous bean into 1 inch pieces.

_Severus shook his head. _They want the juices out. Just cutting it won't do, _he thought. He grabbed a quill and ink from his satchel and began to write:_

Crush with flat side of silver dagger, releases juice better than cutting.

"_Why are you writing in your book? Madame Pince would have a heart attack if she saw you doing that!" Lily hissed._

"_Mind your own business, Evans," he muttered._

"_You aren't supposed to crush them like that either."_

"_You aren't supposed to be looking at my work."_

"_Sorry, I just don't want you to do badly on your first day of N.E.W.T. Potions."_

_He snorted, "You'll see just how badly I do."_

_He saw through the dark blue fumes that she was frowning. Her hair was starting to get a bit unmanageable, apparently, because she quickly grabbed the rubber band around her wrist to pull her hair up. However it snapped and she cursed and whined under her breath. To shut her up he again looked through his satchel and pulled out a rubber band that he used on the rare occasions that he didn't want his hair in his face._

"_Snape, you're a lifesaver! I really appreciate it," she said with an appreciative smile and put her hair in a messy bun. Her dark purple potion made her arms tint with a thin purple glow._

_He didn't reply and placed his now nearly juiceless sopophorous bean slices into his potion. It immediately turned a bright lilac, just as it was supposed to._

_Lily glanced over again, "How did it turn that color?"_

"_Damn, you're nosy, Evans," he snapped rudely, although he wore a slight, triumphant smile. _

_He returned to the instructions and read the next line:_

Stir counter-clockwise until the potion turns as clear as water.

_He frowned, feeling that that wasn't enough. He added:_

Add a clockwise stir after every seventh counter-clockwise stir.

_This was experimental, of course, but he concentrated hard and tried his extra step. The effect was instant and the potion turned a very pale pink. He continued to count in his head (pause, seven stirs counter-clockwise, one stir clockwise, pause…). Suddenly, a loud hissing sound was heard from across the room. Amelia Bulstrode was shrieking as the potion began to thicken dramatically and spill over the cauldron. Her partner, Mantilla Aston—a Hufflepuff—looked at Amelia with abhorrence while Sirius Black laughed up a storm._

"_Okay, okay, time's up!" Slughorn said impatiently. The professor quickly cleaned up the mess and gave Amelia a sympathetic glance. He walked around the room, frowning at Potter's potion (a large smirk graced Severus' features), smiling softly at Rosier's, and laughing slightly at Sirius'. When he walked over to Lily he gave a cry of approval._

"_This is fabulous as usual, Lily. Very, very well done," he said. Lily glanced at Severus with a look that seemed to, uncharacteristically, say, 'Beat that'. _

"_But, Severus here! Perfect colour and texture! Amazing, simply amazing work! You remind me of your mother slightly, she was a great Potions student as well. How is she, by the way?"_

"_Great, sir," he lied._

"_I wish I had a prize on me but I've been quite busy these past few days. But I'll think of something that I know you'll appreciate."_

"_Thank you, sir," Severus said. He glanced at Lily and noticed the smile was off her face and she was peering at him as though he were a very hard puzzle._

"_Well, class dismissed! Oh, before I forget—" All the students groaned, having hoped he'd forget to assign them homework. "I'd like a thirty-inch essay on the Draught of Living Death. I'd like to know the history, who invented it, et cetera. I expect an O from all of you!"_

_They all left the dungeon swiftly and Severus whistled to himself happily, remembering the look on Evans' face. Out of the blue, someone grabbed onto his arm. He turned around to see himself face to face with Evans. For some reason a chill went down his spine. _Why do I keep on seeing her more than I'd like to? _he thought. _

"_How did you do it?" she asked eagerly, her eyes glittering with wonder._

"_I said none of your business, did I not?" he said, shrugging her off._

"_But that was amazing. You didn't even follow the directions, and—"_

"_Why should I tell you?" he snapped, getting rather annoyed._

_She sighed as he turned to leave. "Wait!"_

_He stopped but didn't turn around. She jogged in front of him and reached back to take her bun out, her hair falling gracefully past her shoulders though it was a bit frizzy._

"_I thought I should give you your rubber band back," she said. "Well, I'll see you later," she bid, running off down the corridor to catch up with the others._

Severus nearly dozed off and looked down at his wrist at the rubber band that Lily wore in her hair. He noticed that a few dark red strands caught in it. After looking at the strands in a daze, he snapped out of his trance and tossed it in the rubbish bin.

**XXX**

"Hey, Prongs! Do you have to do that detention tonight?" asked Peter Pettigrew during dinner that night.

James sighed. "We both have to organise Slughorn's office and cupboard. It's going to take a lifetime!"

"Well, Evans has to patrol the dungeons tonight, so…"

James looked down the table at Lily. Her hair was always stunning, the freckles around her nose and on her arms made her look so innocent, her eyes were a vivid green, she had a nice body, and a pleasant personality. She was smart, independent…he couldn't think of anything wrong with her...except for the fact that she seemed to loathe him even looking at her, let alone talking to her.

"My question is, how are you going to survive within a few feet of Snivellus for three hours?" Sirius said with a snort. "You might slip on his grease trail."

James, Peter, Remus, and Sirius all laughed. James looked at Remus and saw that he was quite pale.

"Hey Moony," James whispered. "When is your next…you know?"

"Next week. Try not to get a detention; you either, Padfoot."

"Waght?" asked Sirius, a large roll of bread stuffed in his mouth while his fork was full of mashed potatoes.

"Erm, never mind," Remus said with a sigh. Sirius shrugged and went back to stuffing his face.

* * *

A/N: This chapter was a bit iffy. This has been a VERY long first day huh? A few times the PoV will change to James. This too is necessary for later plot that is necessary to be in sync with canon so I hope that's okay. Next chapter: Slugclub, Marauder suspicion, and more shifty Slytherins.

Thank you **Mish Michelle, JTfanaddict** **Radiancex **and **Sunflwr1621** for reviewing.


	6. An Odd Dream

Disclaimer: If I were JKR, would I be writing fan fiction?

A/N: Ooo! I'm excited for this chapter. C'est le Slug Club! Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

**_X An Odd Dream_**

* * *

"More sugar, Regulus?" asked Horace Slughorn during the Slug Club that Friday evening. It had been a long and tedious week, and Lily Evans was quite tired and more than ready to sleep in tomorrow. She was seated in a comfortable armchair, legs crossed, and sipping tea in the room in which the small Slug Club get-togethers usually occur. She looked around and saw the new member, Regulus Black, chatting merrily with Slughorn. Narcissa and Bellatrix Black were whispering and Lily swore that they continuously glanced at her. Frank Longbottom was eating a cookie silently with a bandage wrapped around his head. On the first day he slipped on a well placed puddle, courtesy of the poltergeist Peeves, and was knocked out for most of the week, just starting classes today. Severus Snape was staring out the window looking highly bored; he kept glancing at the clock on the wall. A first-year that Lily only knew as Basil was looking rather nervous, a fourth-year Ravenclaw, Abigail Abbott, sat quietly, and a seventh-year Hufflepuff that Lily only knew as Gregory was in a deep conversation about Quidditch with Melissa Greengrass, a quirky Gryffindor fifth-year.

"You may be unaware of this, but I invited your brother Sirius and his friend James to this club in their first year, but they declined. I suppose they would have rather played Quidditch," Slughorn chuckled. "I've seen you on the field, Regulus. You are a fantastic player. Hopefully Slytherin will get the Quidditch Cup this year, eh?"

"I hope so sir," replied Regulus.

"Oh, and Bellatrix and Narcissa, I hear your sister is still happily married with that man Ted Tonks. I hear their child is around seven now, am I right?"

"Indeed," Narcissa said with a hint of a snort in her voice.

"Oh, well, I hope to be her Potions teacher in four years' time!"

"Yes…of course," Bellatrix said with a phoney smile.

"Severus!" Slughorn exclaimed suddenly. The little first-year squealed and spilled tea all over him, but Slughorn didn't seem to notice, while Melissa helped Basil.

"Sir?" Severus answered.

"Remember when I mentioned your mother a few days ago?"

"Oh, yes sir," he said with a bit of a quiver in his voice.

"You know, I was her teacher a while ago. How would she react if I invited her for a cuppa in perhaps a month's time?"

"Erm, I'm not sure. She's been a bit busy…"

"Not too busy to see her dear old professor, is she?" Slughorn said with a chuckle.

"No…of course not…"

"Well, you may want to owl her just in case, I suppose. It will be lovely to see Eileen after all these years." Slughorn then turned to Lily. "Ms. Evans, Ms. Evans. How _are_ you this fine evening?"

"Mr. Slughorn, Mr. Slughorn, I'm just fine," Lily replied with a smirk.

"Ho ho, I do enjoy your cheek, Lily." Slughorn chortled. "How was your summer?"

"Oh, it was fabulous. My parents were a bit of a hassle, but I had lots of fun. Did activities that I miss during the school year."

"Oh really? Muggle activities? Do tell!"

Lily noticed that Narcissa and Bellatrix looked at her with repulsion. She decided to explain her Muggle holiday in as much detail as possible, just to spite them. "Well, I watched a lot of television. The muggle entertainment device. My favourite show would have to be _Doctor Who_. It's very funny and rather strange."

"I watched that show too!" piped up Basil.

"You must be Muggle-born, right?" Lily said. She looked around and noticed that all the students except for the Blacks and Severus seemed interested.

"I also like to listen to records," Lily said.

"What Muggle music do you enjoy?" asked Abigail.

"Well I'm sure you've never heard of the bands, well, except for Basil. But I enjoy listening to The Beatles, David Bowie, Simon and Garfunkel, Rolling Stones, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Queen, Janis Joplin, Cat Stevens, the occasional Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan—"

"I believe we get the picture, Evans," said Severus coldly. Bellatrix and Narcissa were giggling from the interruption.

"Well, they asked, so—"

"So you decided to name every musical artist that you've ever heard. Charming," disparaged Severus, again looking out the window.

"Now, now, let's not get hostile in here," said Slughorn.

"Do you drive a car!" asked Gregory excitedly.

"Well, not legally, but a couple of summers ago I drove my mum's car along the countryside. It wasn't legal, but—"

"My mum says that cars are killers covered in metal," said Frank.

"Your mum also wears a vulture on her head," muttered Severus.

The kids laughed, but Frank held his head high.

"Settle down, everyone. Your mother is a lovely woman. Very proud of you. Sent me an owl the minute she found out you got into my N.E.W.T. Potions class. She told me that you hope to be an Auror one day."

"Yes, yes I do hope to be an Auror. I was quite surprised to find out that I did so well on my O.W.L.s."

"You shouldn't have been surprised. You are a fantastic student!"

"Thank you, Professor."

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the window. The students turned to see that there was an important-looking owl outside of the window with the evening edition of the _Prophet_. Slughorn walked over and gave the owl a Knut and frowned at the front page.

"What is it sir?" asked Greengrass.

"Dear, dear, dear. Twenty Muggles and five wizards dead in Kent," said Slughorn gravely. "Death Eater attack, I'm afraid. The Dark Mark was seen in the sky." Lily's heart jumped in her throat.

"Where was the attack again, sir?"

"Kent. Some town named Dartford."

"Oh no! My parents go to Dartford every Friday around this time to see my grandmother!" gasped Lily.

"Lily, don't worry, calm down," Frank said, rubbing her shoulder.

"Oh my God…oh my God," murmured Lily, her palms on her cheeks while her fingers pulling her hair nervously.

"The chances of your parents being in that very area are quite low…" said Slughorn

"No! Please, sir, I need to owl my parents immediately," Lily said, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Okay, you may go up to the Owlery," said Slughorn.

With that Lily jumped out of her seat and ran out the door.

**XXX**

Severus watched as Lily's eyes filled with tears about the news. _She's too damn sensitive. Her parents may not even be there, _thought Severus. He wasn't big on sympathy…empathy either. Lily jumped up and ran out of the classroom, her robes and long auburn hair billowing behind her.

Bellatrix whispered to Severus as the rest of the students chatted about the newest _Prophet_. "I hope her parents are dead," she said. "Make Evans depressed, huh?"

"Humph," Severus grunted.

"I wonder if Lucius was one of the Death Eaters who killed those Muggles." Narcissa said excitedly, joining in the conversation.

"Maybe…" he said.

"You don't sound excited, Severus," Bellatrix whispered. "Have you thought about joining the Dark Lord recently?"

"Can't say I have, Bellatrix," he replied flatly.

"Well, you may want to get a move on," Bellatrix snapped, brushing her hair back. "The Dark Lord loves when you are right out of school. But you should still work on your grades. I hear he likes spies within the Ministry."

"Fabulous," he said in a bored tone.

"Just think of it, Severus. You'd be looked up to greatly among our fellow pure-bloods from around the world. Blood-traitors and Mudbloods would shudder just hearing your name. Of course, that's _if_ you become important enough. Connections upon connections; riches beyond belief. The Dark Lord can give you all of that and more. He accepts people who are in need, seek knowledge...seek power. Power does amazing things to people. Just think about it some more, Severus," Bellatrix said. There was something haunting about the way Bellatrix said all this. Maybe it was her tone; it was a bit cryptic yet straightforward at the same time. He was also a bit annoyed by the fact that she sounded like a silly brochure. Severus had lied; he _was_ thinking about it. But he still hadn't made up his mind, and knew it would be a long while before he did.

"Well, on that note, everyone, I think this meeting is over. I'll catch up with you all eventually. Let's all hope that Ms. Evans' family is all right," said Slughorn sadly.

Narcissa snorted and swept out of the room followed by everyone else.

"Oh, Severus, since you are the last one to leave the room and I must attend a brief meeting…" asked Slughorn hurriedly.

Severus groaned but turned around to his head of house.

"Ms. Evans seemed to have forgotten her purse, maybe you can give it to her. She should still be in the Owlery."

Severus eyed the small, very Muggle, handbag. _If I come into contact with another one of Evans' personal belongings… _he thought. "Um, fine."

He grabbed the purse unceremoniously and headed for the long walk up toward the Owlery.

Once he quietly opened the door the saw Lily standing by one of the many windows. She was sniffling and tying a letter to the leg of an owl. Her hands were fumbling so much that the owl gave her an annoyed peck on her knuckle.

"I'm sorry, girl," she whispered. She finally tied the letter and said, "Please, Artemis, get this letter to my parents, or Petunia, as soon as you can, okay?"

The owl gave what could be considered a reassuring hoot, and flew off into the starry indigo sky. She then put her hands in her hands and started to sob softly as she fell to her knees.

_What the hell do I do now? _he thought. _I guess I'll just leave. _And with that he turned around to leave. But not before an extremely hyper owl swooped in and dug its talons into his hair.

"Ouch!" he yelled. The owl quickly left his head as he heard a startled gasp. He turned around to see Lily facing him, her eyes a red and she was still sitting on the floor and if possible began to sob even harder.

"Erm, you forgot your purse…at the Slug Club. Slughorn told me to—" he started and thought about giving it to her later, but really didn't want to be in possession of one of her belongings in the Slytherin dungeons again.

"Well here," he said. Dropping her purse next to her and began to walk out of the door.

"Snape?" Lily said softly, still sniffling.

"What?" he said, more rudely than he meant to.

"Have you ever…well…I don't know…thought that the last time you saw someone…it would be the last time you see them…ever again?" she said, glaring at a nonexistent spot on the ground. "Not to be horribly melodramatic…"

He was quiet for a while, and then he turned around, reluctantly sitting on the floor. Looking around the Owlery as though he was afraid someone would pop out from the window.

"Yes," he said shortly. _Why are you telling her this?_

"Who?" she asked glancing at him.

"Someone," he replied vaguely.

Lily scoffed emptily, "As if you would answer a personal question. I should have known."

"Yes, you should have." They were both quiet for a few seconds.

"I know I may be overreacting about all this. I mean, my parents could be sitting comfortably at home. And here I am…" Lily said, waving her hand around the Owlery.

"Well, you have a reason to be upset," he said in an unconcerned tone.

"I mean, with all the violence going on…I can't help but be worried. Especially since I'm…well…you know…"

"Muggle-born?" he helped.

"Wow, you actually called me a Muggle-born…not a Mudblood," Lily said with a sarcastic smile.

"Look, I usually don't use that word, but—"

"But Potter and Black were being total arses."

Severus didn't respond.

"What am I doing? Sitting on the Owlery floor sobbing…talking to the one and only Severus Snape," she said dryly.

Severus noticed that she actually said his full name, albeit in an unfriendly way. She was looking at the ground again, smoothing out her skirt slowly. One side of her body was illuminated by the torch on the wall, the other side shadowed, giving her an elegant but dark look. Half her hair glowed in the light, her tears causing black streaks under her eyes, Severus assumed from the make-up she wore around her eyes.

"Severus?" she asked in her more normal voice.

He realized that he was staring and composed himself before asking, "What?"

"Can you tell me who that person is now?

"What person?"

"The one who you said you sometimes fear you won't see again."

Severus looked at the windows to his left. _Why are you still here? You should be in the Slytherin common room, listening to Wilkes tell some stupid Muggle joke. _"Why do you—"

A loud creak was heard and they both turned their heads towards the door. Severus jumped up, his hand subconsciously near his wand pocket. Severus rolled his eyes however as he saw Peter Pettigrew watching the two of them with a slight frown.

"Was I interrupting anything?" he asked.

Lily stood up, grabbing her purse with her. She smiled. "Of course not, Peter."

"Well, erm, I'm just sending an owl to my mum. It's her birthday tomorrow."

"Oh, well, I hope your mum has a lovely birthday."

"Yeah, she usually goes out with her friends. But with all the stuff that's going on…"

"Yes, I know what you mean," Lily said softly, still smiling at Pettigrew.

Peter then looked at Severus and the two exchanged glares. Peter tied the letter to the nearest owl and it flew out the window.

"Would you like to walk with me back to the common room? I think your friends are worried about you."

"You're probably right. Okay then, let's go," said Lily. Peter began talking about his latest charms essay as they headed out, glancing at Severus one last time before closing the door behind her.

Severus sighed deeply and noticed his stomach felt a bit odd all of a sudden. He ignored it and assumed that he was just hungry, and walked out of the Owlery wishing he had eaten a bigger dinner.

**XXX**

"Lily! We were so worried! Where were you? Did you read the paper?" asked Marlene very quickly when Lily entered the common room with Peter.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. I just wanted to be alone. I just sent an owl to my parents, hoping that they weren't victims of that attack," she said as she sank down on the couch, clutching her temples.

"You live in Kent?"

"No, but my grandmother does, and my parents visit her every Friday."

"I'm sure they're fine, Lily, don't worry. Maybe you should head in early, and wash up. Your make-up is all over your face."

"Alright. But where's Emmeline and Alice?"

"They should be coming back from the library soon. I'll tell them not to disturb you."

"Thanks, Marlene. 'Night."

Lily walked up the staircase still shaken up by the _Evening Prophet_. She couldn't stand to imagine her parents killed while she was at school. She changed into her favourite nightgown in a lazy manner as she mused about her time with Severus in the Owlery. He didn't seem very concerned about her situation (not that she expected him to be), but he did sit with her, even if it was for a short amount of time. She had discovered in her fifth year that he deeply intrigued her. He was considered quite the loner; studying constantly, acting nasty towards just about everyone he came across. Yet she also noticed that he was quite respected among a few of his House-mates. He was often seen talking with Nott and the Blacks (sans Sirius) and when they were vulnerable first-years, Lucius Malfoy. In the Owlery, she had had a strange feeling that he was watching her. Trying to understand her like she tries to understand him, perhaps? She had an urge to know him better. He seemed so locked up, introverted and downright unhappy. But she couldn't help but be intimidated by him at times, especially since last year. It seemed like he was hiding something, many things actually, and Lily wanted to know what they were. She lay on her bed, trying to clear her head. Little did she know that on the other side of the school, someone else was having a troubled night as well.

**XXX**

_He touched her shoulder but she just ran faster, out of his reach. Cursing, he ran after her again. He heard thunder in the distance and it began to drizzle. The figure began to run through the dense trees up ahead; he followed. He heard rustling in the vegetation surrounding the trees. He looked up and saw a shadow run between the trees. He saw the silhouette of a bare foot, a naked ankle, and her calf. She was getting further and further away, and he was walking aimlessly through the trees, until a steadily growing white light surrounded him._

**XXX**

Sunday afternoon, Severus was sitting by the lake looking out into the glistening water, lost in thought. He usually did this on Sundays; he usually finished all his homework on Saturdays so he had time to relax. He was reading _300 Advanced Defensive Techniques Against the Dark Arts_ but put the book down when his eyes started to hurt. He was alone. Nearly everyone else was inside doing last-minute work, so that meant no annoying first-years, no people snogging by the lake, and best of all, no Marauders. He scowled at the thought. Ever since first year they had hated each other, and the rivalry between Severus and James had now been known for years. Severus couldn't stand any of them: Potter with his arrogance, strutting around as though he owned Hogwarts; Black, known as the most attractive student in Hogwarts, also full of egotism; Pettigrew, the weakest of the bunch magically, yet close friends of those idiots anyway, looking up to James and Sirius as though they were gods; Lupin and his half-hearted attempts to stop his friends from their bullying, although he knew Lupin enjoyed every minute of it—just not as much as the rest. He also had something about him that wasn't right, and Severus was almost fixated with finding out what it was. Constantly getting "sick", showing up with scars and cuts on him; it was just odd. Whatever it was, the rest of the Marauders were most likely involved, and if this secret was exposed, it could just be the thing to finally get the Marauders to be expelled. He would love to see the look on Potter's face if—

"Hello, Snape," said a cheerful voice. He didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

"What do you want, Evans?" he asked dully.

He saw the redhead settle next to him in the corner of his left eye. She took off her jacket, he assumed because of the sudden change of temperature, and saw her wand sticking out from a pocket within it. She placed her purse next to her, crossed her legs and turned to him.

"Just sitting," she replied simply.

"Why here?"

"Because. Nice view."

There was nothing special about the view in his opinion. All he saw was the other side of the lake and an opaque side of the Forbidden Forest. He picked up his book again and pretended to read.

"Whatcha reading?" she asked conversationally.

He turned the front of the book towards her wordlessly.

"_300 Advanced Defensive Techniques Against the Dark Arts_. Well, I can't say I'm surprised. You are the best Defence student in class. Probably as good as you are in Potions."

"I like Defence better. I just happen to be quite good at Potions, too," he said tonelessly.

"Really?"

"Did I stutter, Evans?"

Lily snorted. "If I were to hear you stutter I'd be worried. Sign of the apocalypse, if you ask me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, not taking his eyes off his book.

"You seem to word everything so carefully…never making a blunder or anything. It's almost like you have a script. Well, maybe just around me, because whenever I talk to you, you always give very basic, short answers so—"

"Stop talking so much. I'm trying to read. You seem to have a knack at interrupting my reading time," he snapped.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said ignoring Severus.

"What?" he asked. He glanced at her and saw that she was looking out at the lake. "The lake?"

"Yes."

"There's nothing special about it. Just a lake like every other lake."

"With a giant squid, mermaids, other magical creatures, and strange plant life. Yes, just like every other lake indeed," she said sardonically.

Severus smirked.

"Was that a smile I saw?" Lily said mockingly.

"No," he said as his smirk fell.

"Sure," Lily said with a smirk of her own.

"Evans, why are you here?" he asked, irritated.

"I told you, just sitting."

"I want the truth," he murmured, actually starting to read his book again.

"What's wrong with me wanting to talk to you?" she asked.

"Because it's out of pity. And don't play dumb, because I know it is**—**" he added quickly as she opened her mouth wanting to protest.

"Snape, for the last time, that's not true! You seem like an interesting person. Rude, and quite haughty at times, but—"

"Haughty? What the hell do you mean, haughty?"

"Oh please, don't act as though you don't know."

"Haughty? I think you're describing Potter and the rest of his nimrod mates," Severus snarled.

"Well you both are quite full of yourselves," she said plainly. Severus scowled and returned to his book once more. "Look, I didn't come here to talk about Potter."

"Well, what are you here to talk about, then? The stupid lake?" he mumbled.

"Nothing. Just wanted to chat. Stop acting as though it's blasphemy."

"I don't chat," he said shortly.

"Well I do," Lily snapped. They were quiet again. The wind was rustling the leaves in the trees around them. The hair on both their heads was gently tossed to the left.

"When's the first Quidditch game?" asked Lily airily after a few minutes of silence.

"Don't know, actually. It's getting a bit tired to me," Severus said, not looking up from his book.

"Yeah. When I was in first year I was so excited; about Quidditch, broomsticks, cauldrons…all of it was a fairy tale…but it came true," she said with a smile on her face. He glanced at her, the silly smile still on her face and the wind blowing her hair about. "Sometimes," she continued, "I wake up expecting it all to be a dream, but it isn't. It's still weird to me sometimes, you know? Or I guess you wouldn't know, being a pure-blood and all," she said as an afterthought.

"Right," he said quickly.

"So, into gossip?" Lily asked.

Severus sneered. "Oh, of course, because I must know who is going out with who this week."

Lily laughed, "Yeah, I'm not into it much either. It's too…catty. But I hear loads. Marlene McKinnon is in my dorm, so—"

She stopped when Severus gave a guffaw.

"What?" Lily asked defensively.

"McKinnon? She probably gossips more than Narcissa Black, and that's saying something."

"She's just…knowledgeable. She's that sort of girl."

"Too bad she can't be half as knowledgeable school-wise," he muttered.

"Hey!" Lily said protectively. "I won't stand for you making fun of one of my best friends. How would you feel if I just started bad-mouthing one of yours?"

"Go ahead. Start with Nott, there's plenty to make fun of," he said dryly.

"That's alright, I'll use my time more wisely," Lily said, eyes narrowing slightly.

Severus was still reading while Lily pulled out a nail file from her purse and began to groom her nails. The sound of her filing her nails was somewhat relaxing to him for some reason, and out of nowhere he asked her:

"So, your parents okay?" he mumbled. _Oh, like you really care, _the back of his mind told him.

He sensed Lily smiling. "Yes. Fortunately, they were in the city with my grandmother that night, looking for a car for Pet actually."

"Pet?"

"Oh, my sister, older sister…" she said quietly. She awkwardly fiddled with the nail file in her hand; tossing it in the air and twirling it around the grass. "Her real name is Petunia. Pet is her nickname though."

"Do you hate her or something?" he said.

Lily's head shot up looking at his profile, his face still in his book. "Of course not. I'd never, ever, _hate_ my sister. But…she's been difficult. She doesn't understand me…or magic. Freak, she calls me," she said quietly.

"Someone calling perfect Lily Evans a freak? That's new," he said scathingly.

"Perfect?" Lily snorted. "Far from it!"

"Oh, shut up, Evans. You are probably one of the smartest, most popular girls in Hogwarts. The teachers wish you were their child most of the time," he said unpleasantly.

"That's not true," she blushed.

"It's obvious that people are jealous of you. You should hear Narcissa…" he said, not caring that he was practically gossiping himself.

"Narcissa Black? Jealous of a Muggle-born like myself? Sure…" said Lily.

She startled him when she began to take off her shoes and socks all of a sudden. He watched as she pulled the bottom of her long black skirt up to her knees and walked towards the shallow shores of the lake.

"Eep! It's cold!" she squealed as she dipped in a toe.

"It's a lake, what did you expect?" he mumbled.

"But it's hot today, it should feel good. Speaking of hot, aren't you hot in that coat?"

"No," he said shortly.

Lily sighed and walked in deeper. "Would you like to join me? Doesn't feel so bad after a moment or two," she assured him.

"Does it look like I'm in that sort of attire, Evans? Use your head," he said nastily.

"God, Snape. Just a simple question. You could just take off your shoes and roll up your trousers. I'm not trying to pressure you or anything."

Severus looked out at the water. He hated to admit it but he was getting quite warm and the water was very tempting.

"I don't think so," Severus said.

"I'm not asking you to live in the lake with me where we can grow old and have grandchildren," she laughed.

Severus flushed, either from Lily's comment, or being in a hot black coat for a long amount of time. He considered at least standing near the water. But then he thought about her motives. Why did she want him in the water? Was she going to push him in the lake as soon as he got in? Were her friends nearby watching?

"What are you doing?" asked Lily, beginning to walk out of the lake as she saw him gather his things.

"I have to go," Severus muttered.

"Where, why?" Lily asked.

* * *

"As usual, Evans, none of your concern. Good-bye," he said angrily and marched up the verdant hill back up to the castle, leaving Lily standing there baffled at his sudden change of plans.

A/N 2: Hmm, seems like nobody reviewed on the last chapter. That was a bit disappointing but it was a boring chapter so I understand. This chapter is much better in my opinion. Review if you'd like.


	7. The Letter

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JKR does. That's all folks.

A/N: School started on the eighth so I won't have as much time to update so it's just a warning. I hopefully will update at the very least about twice or thrice a month. Okay, now on with the story!

* * *

**_X The Letter_**

_She_ _probably invited me in there to get a good laugh just like she did last year. It may have only been a split second, but the moment she saw my legs last year, I saw it. Smirking just like the rest of those idiots, getting a good laugh in before the next exams. To think I almost fell for it, _thought Severus bitterly as he walked across the grassy fields towards the front doors of Hogwarts.

_Nevertheless, something about her isn't like the rest of them. _It was true; Lily Evans was not like anyone else he had met. It was not a good or bad thing… The fact that she may have been trying to befriend Snape was quite unnerving to him. She was a Gryffindor, Muggle-born, clever, a bit bold, attractive… _Well, according to her reputation, _he assured himself as an afterthought. He felt as though he should have been nicer, but also that there was something so terribly off about all this, as if trusting her actions would just cause problems, and he had enough of them to start with.

Mumbling the password to the brooding wizard on the portrait hole doorway (_Purus_), he walked into the Slytherin common room and sat in the armchair furthest from the other students. Evan Rosier spotted him from across the room; Severus watched as he walked over.

"Where were you? It would have been nice if you at least helped me with Defence," Rosier said in an irritated tone.

"Busy," Severus said.

"Too busy to help a mate out with his Defence work?"

"Apparently."

Rosier glared and stalked back to the tables to do his homework again. Severus stroked his temples and noticed Bellatrix give him an inquisitive look from across the room and whisper in her friend's ear, causing the friend to giggle. He got up and decided to go to his empty dormitory and relax; in the back of his mind still wondering what Lily's motives were.

**XXX**

"So, still want to go with me to Hogsmeade?" asked James Potter in the Gryffindor common room a few weeks later.

"Potter, Hogsmeade is still over a month away!" Lily cried.

"I'll take that as a yes," he smiled and ran up the staircase to the boys' dormitories. Lily sighed at his behaviour. James had started asking her out in fifth year; had tried to impress her in any way possible since third. She had had a small crush on him in her first and second year, but it faded when he turned so disgustingly conceited. Though her stomach sometimes performed flip-flops when he was very close to her, overall she found him utterly unpleasant. Her friends told her to give him a chance, but Lily ignored their urging and reminded them that the giant squid was still available.

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon her studying was not going the way she wanted it too. The Charms essay assigned to her yesterday was only half done, she could not successfully turn her eyelashes green yet, and her Ancient Runes project still needed the final changes. Frankly, Lily Evans was stressed. The Slug Club was not helping either. Wood and Bellatrix had had to skip the last meeting due to work, and the sixth-years were to follow suit soon enough. The portrait hole opened and a gaggle of fourth-year boys ran in looking chary. She heard a growling sound and before the boys got to the staircase yelled, "Hold it!"

They froze, the shortest of the lot, a small blonde-haired boy, positioned his hands behind his back. Lily looked him over.

"What's behind your back?"

"Whatcha talking about?" the boy asked boldly.

_Accio Fanged Frisbee! _Lily incanted mentally.

"Hey!" said the boys as the Frisbee struggled out of his grip and soon after landed in her hand.

"Fanged Frisbees are banned and if you don't believe me I'm sure Filch would happily back me up," Lily said strictly.

The boys grumbled and walked up the staircase, one of them mumbling "Bitch" under his breath.

"And watch your language!" yelled Lily.

"Lily Evans: Causing adolescent boys everywhere to sink into despair," said a voice.

She turned to see a grinning Sirius Black. She rolled her eyes. "Afternoon, Black."

Sirius bowed lowly. "Afternoon, Evans."

Lily chortled at his antics. Charm must be in the gene pool of the Black family, or at least for Sirius and Regulus. "What are you up to this fine day, Ms. Evans?" asked Sirius, gesturing towards the window, where it was overcast and windy. Certainly not a fine day

"Trying to finish up some homework, sir, and you?" asked Lily, playing along.

"Looking for my dear mate Prongs. Have you seen him, milady?" he asked, bowing again.

Lily snorted. "If you mean Potter, he went up the stairs a few minutes ago."

"Okay, thanks, Evans!" he said and ran up the stairs as well.

Lily sighed. She wanted a study partner or group of some sort. She sometimes studied with her friends, but they said she was too severe about studying—that it was scary at times. She couldn't help it; studying was important and she wanted to be on top, school-wise. And a little healthy competition never hurt anyone! The only person that came close to understanding this was Remus; she studied with him when he wasn't with his friends. Her main problem was that she tended to crack under lots of pressure. She had had to receive the Draught of Peace fifteen times within two weeks' time leading up to O.W.L. exams last year—apparently a Hogwarts record.

When a few fifth-year girls came down from the girls' dormitory and started gushing over the latest _Teen Witch Weekly_, Lily decided she wanted to take a soothing bath before dinner.

She reached the bathroom with thirty minutes to spare. She never could get over the beauty of it all: the candle-lit chandelier, marble walls, ceiling, sink, toilet, and tub. Although the portrait of the (fortunately, usually slumbering) mermaid was a bit annoying, she was certainly satisfied with access to the prefects' bathroom. She turned the assorted knobs and undressed. She lowered herself into the deep pool of steaming water and her aching muscles immediately relaxed. About ten minutes after unintentionally dozing off, she opened her eyes to see none other than Moaning Myrtle sitting on the large valve of the bath, looking around the room in an uninterested manner.

"MYRTLE! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" yelled Lily, sinking lower under the bubbles to cover herself.

"We're both girls, you know! I'm not some disgusting boy watching you like a piece of meat!" squealed Myrtle; she was close to crying already.

"Look, I'm sorry for yelling," started Lily, "but what are you doing here?"

"I don't know…I'm bored," replied Myrtle. "I forgot your name, what was it again?"

"Lily. Lily Evans," said Lily in a calm voice.

"Oh yes! Now I remember! You're the girl that stopped that girl from flushing me a few years ago!" Myrtle shrieked.

"Yes, I am," said Lily as she remembered the time in her third year when Myrtle and Marlene had argued, leading to Marlene's attempt to flush Myrtle down the toilet.

"I hear your name a lot you know. In the boys' bathroom," said Myrtle in a gossipy tone.

Lily wrinkled her nose. "The boys' bathroom? How do you hear my name there?"

"Well, mostly this one boy. When he was talking to his friends," Myrtle said as a wicked smile began to form on her translucent, blue-tinted face. "He has glasses and messy hair, and he is always saying 'This'll be the year; she'll finally realize how in love with her I am'. It is disgusting really, the way he goes on about you. I wish someone would say that about me!" said Myrtle, the last sentence wavering.

"Don't feel bad, I'm not happy about his comments in the slightest," Lily guaranteed as Myrtle started to sniffle. "Well, thank you, Myrtle, but I think I will be leaving now. Nice speaking to you."

Myrtle stuck her nose in the air and with a "humph", stormed back up the spout. Lily stood up, drained the tub, and dried off, trying as hard as possible to erase what Myrtle said from her mind. She changed back into her clothes; towel-dried her hair, and headed for the Great Hall early.

A few Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were already there and eating when Lily arrived. After about ten minutes, however, the Great Hall began to fill up rapidly. Lily waved over Emmeline and Alice when they entered the Hall, a tired Marlene McKinnon lagging behind. Lily assumed she was just getting in from flying.

She spotted Severus come in through the double doors and smiled when their eyes met. He blinked but Lily didn't mind. _It's a start, _she thought with a shrug. Finally, the Marauders were the last students through the doors, all of them laughing loudly. Lily's mouth formed a grimace when James winked at her before sitting down at the table.

_Maybe if you go to Hogsmeade with him, he will realize how much of a bore you are and stop liking you._

_Yeah right, like he will end his crush on me over one date_.

_Alternatively, you can act as unappealing as possible and then he will stop liking you, _said the first voice.

_That only works on TV, you know._

_Will you pass the carrots? _said a voice that sounded like—

"Lily, did you hear me? Can you pass the carrots?" asked Alice.

Lily snapped out of it. "Oh…yes…sorry, Alice," she said, and handed Alice the bowl of sautéed carrots. "I've got a lot of things on my mind."

She then began to eat her vegetables quietly, wondering about something that was still over a month away.

She looked a few spots down and across from her and glanced at Remus and the moment she saw him, dropped her fork.

"Remus! What's that on your neck?" she asked, unintentionally causing a few other Gryffindors to stare at Remus searching for the problem.

There was a large, narrow scratch on his slender neck. It looked very red against his pale skin; he quickly put his hand up to it and slowly rubbed it, quite nervous from all the attention he was getting.

"Erm, Hagrid and I were talking by the trees near the forest and a bowtruckle decided he didn't like me being very close to him. He took an angry swipe at my neck and—"

"You poor thing!" exclaimed Lily as she leaned across the table to touch the cut gently. "Why didn't you go to Madame Pomfrey? She would have fixed it in no time!" Lily inquired, not noticing James stabbing his roast beef rather violently with his fork.

"No, no, it's fine. I'll just let it heal naturally," he said, his face red from everyone's concentration on him.

"Okay, fine. But I'll be happy to go with you to see her if you want," Lily said.

"He said he's fine, Evans. He is not a child; he can fend for himself without you caressing his cuts and bruises," James said unpleasantly and stood up, storming out of the Great Hall, not affected in the least by walking through the Gray Lady (causing her to placidly state, "What nerve children have these days.").

Remus immediately stood up and followed James out of the door.

"Uh oh, tension in Marauder paradise, eh?" said Marlene.

"Shut your mouth, McKinnon," said Sirius, leading to some colourful words being exchanged between the two for most of dinner.

**XXX**

September went by much more slowly than usual, but it was now mid-October. The weather became cold and harsh; leaves in deep red, orange, and brown hues already beginning to fall off some trees. Many other trees stayed intact, though, leaving the Hogwarts grounds to look like a seasonal holiday card. Planning and dates for the Hogsmeade weekend began amongst the students, causing drama and anticipation. On a breezy Thursday evening Severus sat in a shady tree reading a letter he had received from him mother for the umpteenth time since its arrival that morning.

_Dear Severus,_

_Hello, darling. I've thought about you quite a lot since you last left; I apologize for not giving you a better good-bye. I'm better, Severus; no need to worry. In fact, that reminds me. Horace Slughorn owled me the other week. He invited me over for a cup of tea for this Saturday afternoon. I have not seen that man in years_—_such an amazing Potions master he is… You're growing into such a fine young man, Sev. The last picture of you that I took this summer, although you were aggravated, turned out lovely. I enclosed the picture with this letter, actually. _

_I wish your father were more understanding about all this. I'm sure, if things were different, he would be so very proud of you._

Severus frowned; his grip on the letter a bit tighter every time he read those sentences. His father didn't care, and honestly, he never would. Severus had accepted that fact very early in life.

_I'm sure I'll get to see you this Saturday, so I'm rather excited. Getting out of the house will do me some good; and I'll bet a hundred Galleons that Horace has plenty of good things to say about you. _

_Severus, always remember that I love you so much, more than anything in this world. Be safe, dear, and see you on Saturday._

_With love,_

_Mum_

He felt indifferent towards the letter. She sounded as though she was bollocking her way through it all. He knew that she was not okay. She had just said that so he would not worry. Nevertheless, he did think that coming to Hogwarts might do her some good, since she was always so passionate about her school days.

He placed the letter back into the envelope and pulled out the picture of himself during the summer. It was a moving photo, which surprised him because his father usually would not allow magical photographic developing solution in the house. The photo was a profile of him reading. He tucked a piece of hair behind his ear and turned towards the real Severus, frowned and pulled the book up closer to his face. _Typical, _he thought with a snort. Most of the pictures of him now were of him reading and scowling; when he was very young, however, he was laughing or playing. Nevertheless, that was then—when he was young, naïve, and did not fully understand the evils the world was full of. When he did not understand that life was not easy, even though he knew that his home life wasn't normal. Nobody else's lives were full of arguing, screams, and neglect. Nobody's night included their father laying drunk on the couch after a long day of work and seeing their mother Floo in and out of the fireplace just to get away from the home.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by obnoxious, girlish laughter. He looked down and saw Amelia Bulstrode and Narcissa Black talking. They both wore elegant black robes with jade and platinum embroidered crests and stylish decorations around the sleeves and hem.

"Can you believe he is going to Hogsmeade with _her_ of all people?" said Amelia.

"I know! He is nearly a foot shorter than her; horrible match as well. Going out with that filthy half-blood? He should have more honour, should he not?" Narcissa said.

"Oh yes. My mum would probably disown me if she found out I went out with someone other than a pure-blood," Amelia said.

"Not that you would," Narcissa said lowly.

"Oh, of course not!" Amelia assured her.

Narcissa sighed and tossed her hair, "I wonder what will happen with me and Lucius."

"You'll probably get married and you, Narcissa, will be a part of two distinguished pure-blood lines. A Black getting married to a Malfoy? How much better could you get? Perfect pure-blood marriage, if you ask me," Amelia squealed.

Narcissa giggled and had a dopey smile on her face. Severus rolled his eyes, hardly believing they were talking about marriage when they were barely sixteen.

"Anyways, back to more recent matters. I hear that idiot McKinnon is going to Hogsmeade with Emeritus Limunis. He's certainly handsome, however, so perhaps she does have some taste."

"Limunis? The Hufflepuff prefect?" Amelia asked.

"Yes, him," Naricssa replied.

Severus was getting bored fast and was about ready to climb down but hesitated upon hearing Narcissa's next words.

"Word is that our favourite Mudblood is actually going to Hogsmeade with Potter. I thought she hated him," said Narcissa.

"She can have him," Amelia spat. "That blood-traitor deserves that piece of dirt."

"He sure does. Potter is quite a catch, though…I mean, if you are into blood-traitors. Although his Quidditch skills could never surpass Lucius'. I have seen him at his manor a few summers ago. He's such a natural and it gave him an excellent physique—"

After nearly losing his dinner from Narcissa's descriptions of Lucius' body, he quietly got out of the tree. Confused was the easy way to depict how Severus felt about Evans going to Hogsmeade with Potter. He thought she despised the ground he walked on, so why was she going with him to Hogsmeade?

As if on cue, Lily and her friends were seen coming out of the double doors and walking in the opposite direction he was. He kept his head down low hoping that she would not talk to him. His wish, however, was far from granted.

"Snape!" yelled Lily. He looked up to see Lily holding up the number one to her friends and striding towards him, her friends looking exasperated.

"Hey," Lily said as he was in talking distance.

"'Lo," Severus said lowly.

"Lily, hurry up, it's getting a bit nippy!" yelled Marlene.

"I'll meet you lot there by the tree then!" Lily yelled back. Her friends shrugged and raced down the hill.

She pulled and tugged her loose tresses out of her face. "How've you been? We haven't got to talk much recently."

"Fine," he said, looking around.

"So…" she began, also looking around. "Are you going to Hogsmeade with anyone? Maybe a girl?" she added with a gleam in her eye.

Severus snorted and gave a smirk whilst he looked as his feet. "Does it seem like I'd go to Hogsmeade with anyone?"

"Would you like me to answer truthfully?" she asked.

"No not really," Severus said. Lily giggled. He looked up at her face and noticed how flushed her nose looked from the cold, accentuating the freckles on her nose. "What? Is there something on my face?" she asked, suddenly starting to brush away non-existent matter off her cheeks and chin. He shook his head and realized he was staring.

"No, no, it's just that you look really cold," he replied.

"Oh, yes, I get cold rather easily," she said covering her nose slightly. "My mum says that when it's cold it brings out my freckles. I hate them," she said with a sour look.

"Your freckles?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you hate them? They look fine on you," he said. _Look fine? What are you, her personal stylist?_

"Oh, thank you. That's sweet," she said, her cheeks flushing.

"I mean, I was just stating a fact, didn't mean anything…" he muttered and looked around nervously again.

"What do you have there?" Lily asked, pointing to the letter in his hand.

"Nothing. Just a letter from my mum," he said dismissively.

"Oh."

"So I hear you're going to Hogsmeade with—"

"Potter, I know," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I thought you disliked him," Severus said curiously.

"I do…"

"Then why are you going with that bastard?" he asked nastily.

"He's not a bastard…he's just…"

"You don't even know why you're going with him do you?" he asked with a sharp look.

"I'm hoping he'll get over me. You know, stop asking me out every time he gets a chance. He'll realize what a bore I am and that he wants a girl more exciting."

"You're not _that_ boring," Severus said.

"Wow, you're in a complimentary mood. What's the occasion?" asked Lily teasingly.

"Nothing is the occasion. I'm not complimenting you so much as telling the truth. And honestly, have you ever listened to Professor Binns speak? _That's_ boring," Severus replied.

Lily giggled again and they stood in silence for a moment. "Well, it was nice talking to you," she said and headed down the hill, her robes fluttering in the breeze, causing her to hold it down with her hands.

"Anytime…" he said sardonically, though Lily didn't seem to catch the malice in his tone.

She turned around. "What?" she shouted.

"Nothing," he said a bit louder. She smiled and then continued to walk down the hill, leaving him to stand there watching her auburn hair drift behind her.

**XXX**

"Honestly, Lily," started Alice, "Why do you even talk to him? He's such a…I don't even know what. But he's not someone _I'd_ want to be chummy with."

"Well, you aren't me, are you?" said Lily. The four girls were sitting under their favourite tree, resting in the grass as the breeze began to strengthen. Marlene and Emmeline clustered together with their robes tightly around them, their hair wiping their faces. It was nearly six o' clock and the dim sun was about to fall over the mountains in the distance, but the common room was too noisy and they haven't had time to spend alone together for a while.

"But after what he called you last year—" Marlene started.

"I got over it," Lily said shortly.

"You just 'got over it'? It's not like he even did it often. It was so out of the blue, it was—" Alice said.

"It was probably out of anger from what Potter and Black were doing to him. I don't forgive him for calling me that, but I want to move on from it. He's not that bad once you get to talk to him. A bit shy, but—" insisted Lily.

"Shy? Maybe when he's around you, but he seems like a loose cannon otherwise. Snapping at the littlest thing, starting rows with Remus for no reason…" said Emmeline quietly.

"Well…I can understand it sometimes. Other times, yes, he should just shut up and not start anything. I just want to get to know him. He seems rather interesting, like there is something about him that is special, but nobody knows but him."

They all laughed, except for Lily that is, feeling rather annoyed by her friends' behaviour. She stood up unexpectedly.

"I should go to the common room," said Lily.

"Why?" asked Marlene.

"Because I need to write a letter to my mum. It's her birthday soon," Lily lied.

"I thought your mum's birthday was in April," said Emmeline.

"Half-birthday then," said Lily curtly, and walked back up the hill towards the castle, clutching her robes tighter around her.

She entered the common room and saw Remus sitting on the couch next to an inviting fire. Deeply engrossed in his book, he jumped when Lily suddenly sat next to him.

"Oh, hello Lily," he smiled, closing his book.

"Hello. How are you?" said Lily.

"Good… Waiting for James, Sirius, and Peter to get back from their detention," replied Remus.

"What did they do this time?" she asked, rolling her green eyes.

"Cornered Rosier and Nott and got their arses nearly blown off. I told them not to mess with those two, but they were stubborn. Wilkes said some thick comment to Sirius and him leaving his home this summer, and, well…" Remus trailed off, shaking his head slightly.

"All hell broke loose," finished Lily with a knowing smile.

"That's putting it lightly. Hexes bouncing off walls, fists flying… Snape and I happened to be there and broke it up," Remus said.

"Snape helped break up a fight when Black and Potter were involved?" Lily asked incredulously.

Remus shrugged. "He is a prefect, as you know, and Flitwick was right there—he had to look as though he had some authority, didn't he? If the situation had been different, I think Severus would have been pulling the tails off floundering floberknocks along with the rest of them."

Lily winced at the thought of pulling off the ends of the particularly spiky, gelatinous cousin of the flobberworm for hours. They continued to talk conversationally and Lily felt immediately better. Something about Remus made her feel warm, as if she had known him forever. They had so much in common and conversation came easily to the two. She had always been fond of Remus. It was hard, though, especially with James always acting suspicious about the two, despite Remus' numerous times of telling him that there was nothing going on.

"Remus, I want you to answer something truthfully," Lily said quietly.

Remus leaned his head closer to hers, "Sure, anything."

"And please don't talk about this to—"

"I think I know what this is about," Remus said nodding knowingly. "Don't worry, I won't mention this to any of my friends, especially James."

"Do you think Potter will ever stop liking me?"

"Honestly, I haven't seen any sign of him doing that anytime soon," Remus said.

"But why, Remus? Why does he fancy _me_so much? Why not any of the hundred other girls in Hogwarts?" Lily asked desperately.

"Lily, you're a likeable girl. Smart, popular, attractive; you'd have to be dense not to know that," he said blushing slightly.

"Snape practically said the same thing," Lily said.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Snape?"

"Well, kind of. He said that I'm perfect, which is a complete and utter lie. He also said that I was smart and popular and people are jealous of me. I found it all rather silly, but—"

"Since when do you talk to Snape?" Remus asked.

"Well, we don't talk often... But sometimes we do. I was just talking to him about half an hour ago, actually. And we talk in Potions," Lily said.

"Oh."

"Why? Is something the matter?"

"Well, no. But, I mean…it's Snape," Remus said.

"Yes, and?" Lily retorted. "Just because you don't like him—"

"Calm down, Lily. I'm just saying that maybe…I don't know…maybe you should be a bit careful around him," Remus said lightly.

"That's something I'd expect from Potter or Black, but I'm disappointed to hear that coming from you, Remus," she said shaking her head.

"Look, Lily. I trust your judgment and I know you're bright. Yet, this is Snape. Not only him, but the people he associates with…and he called you that name last year..." Remus said.

"Which wouldn't have happened in the first place if you had controlled your friends!" Lily bit back.

Remus glared at her. "Lily, you have no idea how hard it is to control them. They're my friends, and—"

"And you're a prefect!" Lily barked.

"Look, why is this conversation starting to centre around me?" he asked harshly. "I thought you were the one who wanted my opinion. If not, then I'll just leave."

With that, he grabbed his book and went through the door to the sixth-year boys' dormitory, slamming it behind him and causing a few first-years to gasp.

"That went well," Lily said to herself. She immediately felt guilty. She should have at least let Remus talk. She knew he wasn't going to ruthlessly start insulting Snape, but she grew tired of everyone telling her who not to be friends with. Sighing, she went up to her dorm to grab her books and start studying for the night.

* * *

Thank you **Stalker's Stalker**, **Sunflwr1621**, **Daine**, and **JT **for reviewing.

**JT**: Thanks a lot for pointing out my spelling and quotation errors. And this brings up something I've been wondering for a bit. I know that my punctuation and flow of the story may get a bit choppy and spell/grammar/style check can only go so far…I was wondering if anyone is offering to beta for me? It would be fabulous if one of you guys could. Thanks.


	8. Hexes, Vexes, and Yellow Boots

Disclaimer: Is this necessary by now?

A/N: I've had this chapter in my head for a while now and this chapter is a bit long so brace yourselves guys, I know some don't like to read uber long chapters…but I do so I suppose you'll have to deal with it. :)

_And_ I must thank my fabulous new beta **JTfanaddict** for proof reading my fic and fixing those horrible errors so that this fic is actually readable!

* * *

_**X Hexes, Vexes, and Yellow Boots**_

"All of you shut up!" yelled Bellatrix over the loud chatter of the prefects. It was the end of the first prefect meeting of the year and due to the dull, nearly hour-long discussion of detention policy, side-talking had ensued. The chatter immediately stopped at Bellatrix's exclamation, however, and she gave a wide, slightly scary smile. "Thank you. Now, the old man--"

"I think you mean Professor Dumbledore," interrupted Lily gallantly.

Bellatrix shot her a look of malice before plastering on a fake smile. "Oh yes, my apologies. _Professor Dumbledore_ wants us to help set up a ball," she finished, emphasizing the head master's name.

Hogwarts rarely held balls, and in the past they had only occurred in the event of a very special occasion, or when Dumbledore was in an extremely good mood and wished to share it with the rest of the school.

"Now, the ball will take place the night before winter hols and he wants us to think up the decorations and music. From now until the ball we will have prefect meetings every week, so don't miss a meeting," said Fabian Prewett, the Head Boy.

"Now leave, all of you! I have to meet someone in five minutes," snarled Bellatrix, who was anxiously looking at the clock on the wall and applying a thick layer of makeup around her eyes with her wand.

Excited chatter echoed out of the room as everyone left, and soon the news of a ball spread through the school like wildfire. Girls who were usually stressing out over Hogsmeade dates were suddenly full of anxiety about what to wear to the ball and procuring a date, despite it being over two months away. Lily thought all the hype was silly, but knew she'd think differently come Christmas time. As she walked towards the staircase, Slughorn came into view and tottered towards her in earnest.

"Miss Evans, I'm glad I caught you! I'd…I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine who is coming for tea around four this afternoon. I'm s-sure she'd be happy to meet you," he said, panting, his ample belly heaving with exertion.

"Oh, um, sure. In your office?" Lily asked him, groaning inwardly at her luck.

"Naturally. Thank you, Lily! Oh, I'm sure this will be enjoyable!"

Slughorn grinned with delight and turned on his heel, leaving Lily to head off to the library. When she got there, she caught sight of Remus studying in a secluded corner of the library. They had not spoken since their falling-out on Thursday, and she tentatively approached his table.

"Remus?" she asked timidly, wincing at the slight squeak in her voice. His head shot up at the sudden interruption, but upon seeing his intruder, his expression turned impassive.

"Yes?" he said dully, returning his eyes to his parchment.

"Remus, I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to blow up like that."This caught his ear and he looked up at her again. "I guess I just don't understand how hard it is for someone in your position. Still, you know you could put in a bit more effort; if they were really your best friends, they would respect the authority you have over them in the situations that they get into. They should understand why you have to do what you have to do."

Remus sighed. "Yes, I know. I suppose I'm a bit nervous sometimes…" he trailed off.

"Well don't be. They're your friends and they always will be, and frankly they bring it upon themselves… So, are we okay?" she asked, stopping herself before she launched into a rant about the other Marauders.

He smiled warmly. "Yes, we're fine."

Lily gave him an innocent kiss on the cheek, causing him to redden slightly. They began to study together and after a while, Lily noticed that he looked very peaky.

"Remus, you should really eat more vitamin C or something, you always seem to be sick. I'm really getting worried about you. And your mother too, you're always visiting her…why can't your dad just take care of her?"

"Well he does, but he needs some help and wants me to be there with her," he replied, never looking up from his book.

"Oh, well…does she have a serious illness, or--"

"No, just, um, gets sick a lot," Remus cut in. "It happens to a lot of people in my family."

"Maybe weak immune systems are genetic," Lily thought. Remus merely shrugged.

After studying the origins of ancient Aztec runes with Remus for an hour, Lily said goodbye and headed for Slughorn's office as she promised she would.

She walked out the door, humming something she had heard on the wireless a few days before returning to Hogwarts. As she passed a dark, narrow corridor on her right, she suddenly felt a searing pain in her skull. Clutching her head, she fell to the floor, her books skittering off in all directions, and she let out loud whimpers of pain as hot tears streaked down her cheeks. It felt as though burning coals were bombarding her brain and her skull was splitting in two. She had no idea what was happening, but after what felt like hours, the pain suddenly stopped. Her eyes were swimming with tears as she opened them and she looked around.

"Nice knickers, Mudblood," said a familiar male voice from the end of the dark corridor. Laughter followed, but faded in the distance as her attacker fled. Lily noticed that her legs were widely spread, giving anyone from the attacker's angle a good view of her underwear. Feeling embarrassed and worried, she hugged her long school robes around her body and managed to get to her feet, albeit slowly. Lily collected all her books and ran as fast as she could to the nearest bathroom. As she peered in a cracked mirror, she saw that her hair was a mess from ensnaring her fingers in it, and her face was ghostly pale. Her auburn hair and pink lips looked a bright crimson in contrast to her face; her emerald-green eyes looked dim and lifeless. Whatever it was she had felt, it was the most pain she had ever experienced in her lifetime. Cool, silent tears started to fall down her face and she cursed herself for not seeing or recognising her assailant. She assumed they were from Slytherin at first, but remembered that there was Muggle-born prejudice throughout the student body, not just among Slytherins. She swiftly came to a dreadful comprehension.

"This isn't the only time this is going to happen," she whispered to her reflection quietly, the bathroom walls barely echoing back her statement.

She knew that, until the war was over, being a Muggle-born was more dangerous than ever. Nobody had ever hexed her so horribly before, but now she was coming to the gruesome realization that Hogwarts wasn't as safe as she once believed it to be.

Wiping the lines of tears away from her face with trembling fingers, she took a brush out of her bag and began to groom her unruly hair. Tugging her long wool socks further up her legs, pulling her skirt down in the hopes of covering more skin, and wrapping her robes tightly around her, she left the bathroom. Lily hurried down the hall for Slughorn's office, struggling in vain to push the memory of her attack into the back of her mind.

**XXX**

He didn't want to go in. He was too worried, too upset, too angry, and too confused. _Damn Slughorn and his incessant invitations!_ he thought angrily.

Severus Snape stood outside of Slughorn's office, occasionally peeking through the small window of the door to see his mother and Slughorn chatting happily over steaming tea, biscuits, and sandwiches.

Her brown hair reached her shoulders and her eyes squinted as she laughed. Her lips were bright red with lipstick that looked energetic against her pale peach skin. She wore her deep blue 'special occasion' robes and looked so much like a traditional witch that he barely recognized her. On any given day his mother wouldn't be considered beautiful or amazingly gorgeous, in fact she was quite mild-looking, borderline insipid; but when she was dressed up she looked...alive. He remembered looking at his parents' wedding picture when he was young, before it had a large web-like crack along it from his mother throwing it across the room one night. His parents looked happy--and, most importantly, _she_ looked happy. Yet, having a child and growing into a depression tended to give a careworn look to people. He sighed deeply and sat with his back against the stone wall. Reminiscing about the past never did anything but depress him, although he was doing it less and less in terms of his parents. His head shot towards the end of the hall when he heard the loud clicking of what sounded like women's shoes. To his utter and complete surprise, Lily Evans appeared in the hallway, walking hurriedly towards him.

"Evans?"

"Snape?" she said in hushed surprise.

"What are you doing here?"

She sat down next to him and he had a strange feeling of déjà vu.

"Slughorn said that there was someone here that he would like to meet me…" she said uncertainly.

"Fuck."

"Watch your mouth, Snape!" Lily reprimanded.

"Oh, shut up," Snape snapped back at her. He exhaled in frustration and turned his eyes skyward. "The person he wants you to meet is my mother."

Lily quickly became her usual curious, happy self at that statement. "Oh really? Why is she here?" she inquired, cocking her head to the side with interest.

"Yes really, and Slughorn invited her so she came…"

"You don't seem very happy to see your mum."

"That's because I'm not," Snape scowled.

"Oh?" Lily's smile faltered at this and she looked taken aback.

He didn't respond and he didn't feel the need to talk to her anymore about his mother--or anymore in general.

"Well, did he want us to wait out here?" she asked.

"No," he replied crossly.

"Fine, then I'm going inside to introduce myself," she said, getting to her feet and brushing past him. Reaching her fist up to knock at the door, she paused and looked down at him. "Do you want to come in with me?"

"Didn't I just say that I didn't?"

Lily didn't say anything and knocked on the door before timidly walking inside.

**XXX**

"Miss Evans! So happy that you came!" boomed Slughorn as Lily entered the large, ornate room. "I would like you to meet my good friend, Eileen Snape! As I'm sure you have deduced, she is Severus' mother." Eileen stood up from her seat and shook Lily's hand--her hands icy cold, despite the fact that she had been holding a teacup just seconds prior, causing Lily to shudder slightly. Eileen looked very little like Snape on first glance. However, after a moment Lily began to notice a couple similar features: Her eyes were the same shape as Severus', although hers were a dark cerulean colour; her hands were large, with long and spidery fingers; and her jaw structure and ears were like Severus' as well.

"Very pleased to meet you, dear," Eileen said in a very motherly tone. "Professor Slughorn has told me a great deal about you already."

"Very pleased to meet you as well, Mrs. Snape," Lily said courteously, but she could have sworn that she saw Eileen's smile wilt slightly.

"We were expecting to see Severus as well, Lily. Have you seen him?" asked Slughorn, dropping himself down into a grand armchair.

"Well…I…um..." she stammered, but stopped when she heard the door creak open.

Severus' tall, thin figure appeared in the doorway and she heard a small intake of breath from Mrs. Snape. Lily had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing when she saw Mrs. Snape practically charge towards her son and cover his face with smeared kisses.

**XXX**

"Mother!" he hissed as his mother began to lick her thumb and wipe off the lipstick marks.

"Oh, Severus! How have you been, darling?" she asked, ignoring his protests and continuing to dab at the stains, only succeeding in smudging more.

"Fine, Mother," he replied through clenched teeth.

"Maybe we should give these two a bit of alone-time," Slughorn chuckled. "Miss Evans, grab a cup of tea and come this way. I want you to see a Muggle portrait I've recently acquired! It's by some fellow named Remburough," Slughorn told her.

"I think you mean Rembrandt, Professor Slughorn," said Lily as she went over to the table to pour herself a cup of tea.

"So, Sev," Eileen whispered anxiously. "Are you friends with that young woman?"

"No, not really," he said in an irritated tone.

"Oh, well you should be! Slughorn said she is very intelligent, and very talented for a Muggle-born! I hear she's in your Potions class as well. And she's very beautiful, Severus, don't you think?" Eileen added in an undertone as she looked over at Lily, watching Severus out of the corner of her eye for any reaction.

He followed his mother's gaze towards Lily, who was bending over to pour some tea for herself. The afternoon sun shining through the windows illuminated her hair, and a pale radiance surrounded her body, flattering her already appealing figure. Lily pulled a strand of hair behind her ear and began talking to Slughorn again. He snapped out of his stare and looked at his mother, a knowing smile spread across her face.

"What?" he asked angrily.

"I know that look when I see it," she smirked, giving him an all-knowing smile.

"What look?" he said quickly, growing irritated by the way his mother was watching him, as if she knew the innermost workings of his mind. He glanced at Lily again who was laughing heartily at something Slughorn said. "She's okay-looking, I suppose," he growled. "Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that I like her personality or anything else about her. She's very fake," muttered Severus, hoping his mother would drop the subject.

To his surprise, his mother nodded in understanding. "Okay, sorry for jumping to conclusions there. Fake people seem to be more and more abundant these days," she said bitterly. "She seemed like a nice girl, though."

"I'm not saying that she's not nice. I just don't like her."

The corners of Eileen's mouth twitched slightly and she turned back to her son. "Oh, Severus, I got you a little something. I had time to go to Diagon Alley before I Flooed here. I haven't been to that area since your first year." For a moment, her eyes looked very sad, but she blinked a few times and continued. "Anyway darling, I found this there and I believed you'd be interested."

Eileen pulled out her wand and summoned her purse over, causing him to recall the last time she did magic in front of him. She pulled out a book titled _Dangerously Advanced Potions for Dangerously Advanced Wizards: From Livers to Pus, _by Willard Earnshaw. He grabbed the book and flipped through the pages, quickly becoming absorbed as he glanced at the various chapter headings.

"Thanks," Severus said quietly, a small smile appearing on his face. His mother looked down at him with deepest affection.

"I'm glad you like it, dear. Found a bit of extra money and wanted to give you a treat. I had a book similar to this when I was your age. Best Potions student of my year. Like mother, like son, I suppose."

"Sure, except I wouldn't have married a blinkered Muggle," he mumbled without thinking, but didn't take it back.

"Severus, now is not the time to discuss this," Eileen sighed wearily.

"Eileen, Severus, would you like to come over and discuss this Remberg's painting?" asked Slughorn from across the room.

"It's Rembrandt, Professor!" Lily giggled.

"Yes, him."

Lily educated Slughorn about his paintings, Eileen and Slughorn took trips down memory lane, and Lily and Severus briefly discussed school and prefect duties—all of which, together, lasted a couple of hours. Eileen glanced at a clock on Slughorn's desk and announced her departure.

"Already, Eileen?" whined Slughorn, setting down his seventh pasty.

"I should get back home now," said Eileen solemnly. Severus looked at his mother's face and noticed that she looked a little like she normally did during the summer, now. The smile was there, but there was little emotion through it. "I'm sure I'll see you soon, Horace."

"Alright, Eileen," he said, and gave her a friendly hug.

"And again, nice to meet you, Miss Evans," Eileen smiled, reaching out for Lily's hand.

"Please, you can just call me Lily, Mrs. Snape," she replied merrily, taking the outstretched hand and shaking it.

"Yes, yes…Lily. You are a brilliant young woman, dear. I hope to see you again, as well."

"I hope so, Mrs. Snape. That would be lovely."

Severus cringed when Lily said this and tried as hard as he could to pass it off as a sudden move to open the door.

Eileen eyed him suspiciously and quirked an eyebrow. "If it's alright with the two of you, I'd like a chance to say goodbye to my son," she said.

"Oh, of course," said Slughorn, and he and Lily conversed elsewhere once more.

"Severus, it was so wonderful to see you again."

Severus nodded but did not look at her.

"Look at me, Severus," she said firmly. There were tears welling up in her eyes as she smiled at him tenderly and began to straighten out his tie and smooth out his robes. "I know I didn't see you for most of the summer, but…you make me very proud. One day, you'll graduate from this place, have a job, start a family…" she said quietly, and he could have sworn she took a fleeting look at Lily when she said the latter part of this statement.

"Mother, don't worry about me," he said and looked away from her eyes, his cheeks burning. He couldn't stand seeing his mother crying over him.

"I've done enough talking; I can tell you're getting aggravated. Goodbye, dear," she said hurriedly, giving him a peck on the cheek, which caused Severus' face to burn even hotter. Grabbing a handful of Floo Powder, she called out a last farewell to Slughorn and Lily and tossed the contents of her hand into the fire, which blazed a brilliant emerald green. She stepped into the fireplace and, turning to face them, yelled out "400 Spinner's End" in a clearly-enunciated voice before vanishing away in a flash of verdant flames

"It was very nice to see your mother again, Severus," said Slughorn jovially, who was suddenly at Severus' side, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes…quite," he agreed quietly.

"Wonderful woman, that Eileen. Advanced witch…very friendly." Slughorn sighed, gazing off into space for a moment. He blinked and appeared to return to the office, where Snape and Lily were watching him quizzically. His face reddened and he waved his hand at the door. "You two may leave now."

Snape saw Lily roll her eyes at Slughorn's unintended bluntness and couldn't help but smirk.

"Severus, your mother was very nice. Why didn't you want to see her?" she asked inquisitively once they were outside of Slughorn's office.

"For reasons that have nothing to do with you," he growled, accidentally slamming the office door much harder than he had intended.

Lily rolled her eyes again and gave up on pursuing the matter. "So, what do you think of that ball in December?" asked Lily, trying to make conversation.

"Not much. Just another stupid way to cause more drama at this school," Severus mumbled with disinterest.

"Yeah, there is enough of that already. It's silly, really. But I'm looking forward to it more than Hogsmeade…" Lily added as an afterthought.

They didn't say anything until they got to the staircases. "Well, I'll see you later. I should probably study some more for that Charms essay," Lily said casually before ascending the stairs, leaving Severus alone in the corridor they had just walked through. He slouched off to the Slytherin dungeons in record time and was surprised to find the common room to be quite full. Nott, Wilkes, and Rosier were talking in hushed voices in the corner, but looked up when they heard him close the door.

"Snape, where've you been? You missed one of the best things all year!" yelled Nott.

"Slughorn wanted to see me and Evans, so we--"

"What a coincidence, we were just talking about the little Mudblood."

Everyone laughed and Wilkes told Severus to pull up a seat, which he reluctantly agreed to.

"A couple hours ago we saw Evans walking down the corridor from the library and we decided to have a little…fun," said Evan, a devilish smile contorting his face.

"Fun?" asked Severus, an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, the swot didn't even see us. Wilkes hit her with the Giolovi hex, and--"

"You what?" said Severus loudly, but lowered his voice when they hushed him. "That could have done a lot of damage, you imbeciles; you could have even gotten yourselves expelled if you were caught. Especially since you lot were probably too dense to do it correctly in the first place," Snape hissed.

"Well, we hit her with it and she was clutching her head and started sobbing and everything… It was great," Evan grinned, learning back in his chair with a pleased look on his face. "We got a good look up that skirt of hers, too," he added, giving Severus a wink while the others howled with laughter.

Severus fell silent and felt his stomach turning with disgust. He looked at Rosier, who was smirking like an idiot. Something told him Rosier had a small thing for Evans; some sick, twisted infatuation. Rosier wouldn't be caught dead actually being in love with her, but he could admire her for her looks and nothing else.

"You know what we should have done, boys?" said Nott, breaking Severus out of his silent fury. "We should have pulled off her knickers while we had the chance."

"We already had her knickers in our possession before. We should have stuffed her in one of the suits of armour," said Wilkes. They laughed again.

"I'm going to go to the library," Snape mumbled, unable to listen to any more, and grabbed his bag.

"But you just got here!" protested Demetrius.

"Keen observation, Nott," Snape replied bitingly over his shoulder before exiting through the portrait hole.

_What a stupid use of that hex; it would be more worthwhile on Potter_, thought Severus as he entered the library. Madame Pince was looking sceptically at a small girl requesting to check out a book on unicorns, while the girl's friends stood next to her, all looking somewhat intimidated by the librarian. He walked between bookshelves and around dozens of columns until he approached his favourite armchair and table by a large window in a corner of the library. Turning left around the last bookshelf, he was surprised to see Evans doing her homework in his spot. He glowered and walked towards her.

She looked up and smiled slightly. "Oh, hello, Snape. Are you going to study for Charms as well?"

"You're sitting in my chair," he said stiffly.

Lily cocked a brow. "Your chair?"

"Yes, my chair."

"I don't see your name on it," she retorted playfully.

"It doesn't have to be."

"Just sit in the one across from me. It's the same chair."

"No, you're sitting in my chair."

Lily eyed him for a second before sighing loudly. "Fine, I'll sit in the other chair, although I think this is all rather inane."

She pushed her stuff to the other side of the table, stood up, and plopped down in the other chair.

"Thank you," mumbled Severus.

"Humph," muttered Lily. She crossed her legs and he noticed a large bruise on her knee.

"Where'd you get that bruise?" he asked, though he was sure he already knew the answer.

"Wha--oh…that…" she stuttered, pulling her wool socks further up her knees. "I was, um, walking with Marlene and slipped on something wet in the middle of the hall. I'm sure it was Peeves that put it there. So I, um, fell on my knee and, yes," she said quickly. Severus scoffed and shook his head, his limp black hair swaying. "What, you don't believe me?" asked Lily.

"Not in the slightest," he said, opening his Charms book.

"Well, it's true," said Lily.

"No, it's not. You got that from falling when some idiots in my house hit you with the Giolovi hex."

Lily paled and did not say anything. She went back to scribbling on her parchment. They sat in silence until Lily finally spoke again. "Who did it?"

"Nott, Rosier, and Wilkes," he said, also scribbling something on his parchment.

"What is it supposed to do?" she asked quietly.

"Well you were hit with it, weren't you?"

"Yes, but--"

"Well, how did it feel?"

"Like my head was going to split in two."

"Well, that's what it's supposed to do. William Giolovi invented the hex to cause extreme pressure and pain in the brain. Many have died from it, actually, when they were hexed repeatedly."

"And it's not an Unforgivable? It sounds similar to the Cruciatus Curse," said Lily, frenzied.

"Well, the Giolovi hex focuses on one area of the body. The Cruciatus Curse, on the other hand, hits every bone, muscle, and nerve in your body at once," Severus said very casually, as though discussing socks. Lily nodded and went back to her notes.

"Excuse me; I need to get another book."

He went through the library finding more books for his Charms essay. He thumbed the spines of the various books in the Charms section; the leather-bound tomes, torn parchment edges, the slightly musty yet woodsy smell of the old, cracking pages. He always enjoyed books and the selection at the library was vast, though he was annoyed that the more controversial books were either in the Restricted Section or not in the library at all. He found the book _Charming Charms by Charming Charm-Makers: 1400s Europe_ and headed back to the table. He was a column away when heard soft sobs coming from Lily. He felt a little bad for her, but he couldn't bring himself to care that much. It wasn't unlikely that she would be attacked; she was a Muggle-born, after all, in a school full of Death Eaters in training and pure-blood fanatics. Not only that, but empathy was never one of his strong suits. He hesitated before imperturbably seating himself across her. She sniffled a bit and quickly wiped the tears from her face with a purple handkerchief before muttering "sorry".

He gave a sound showing that he heard her.

"I want to hex the arses off the lot of them," Lily said nastily. He raised his eyebrows, surprised by her language. "Oh, sorry, I forgot they're your friends," she said blushing from her own daring.

"No, please continue," he smirked.

"Unfortunately, I think I'll have to pass." She smiled wryly. She shifted in her chair and her calf grazed against his shin. Either she didn't notice, or she thought nothing of it, because she continued to sift through the pages of her book. Severus, however, couldn't just ignore this contact and he immediately felt an odd sensation crawling in the pit of his stomach. _Get a bloody grip on yourself! It was an accident_, he mentally scolded. He cleared his throat and Lily looked up.

"Are you hot?"

"P-pardon me?" he stammered.

"You look a bit flushed," Lily pointed out, and Severus felt his cheeks begin to blush a bright pink.

"No, no, I'm fine."

"You're good to study with," said Lily. "You aren't distracting like my friends. And you don't get dragged off all of a sudden like Remus does." He didn't say anything. "Look, I know you don't like me much, but—" started Lily.

"It's not that I don't like you…" he said idly, dipping his quill into an inkpot.

"But…"

"But it's just that you annoy me to no end, especially with your persistent questions, your unneeded self-deprecation, your—"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Lily cut him off, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Shh!" a stern voice barked. "In case you haven't noticed, this is a library, not the Great Hall! So keep your mouths shut! We've had complaints," scolded Madame Pince, who seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

"Sorry," apologized Lily. Madame Pince stalked out of sight and Lily turned back to Severus. "How about we just become study partners, then, no friendship, just a strictly academic relationship? Is that satisfactory?"

He snorted. "Study partners? I don't think so."

"Well, why not?"

"I don't do the…'sharing notes and reading together' thing," he said.

"We're doing the latter right now. And don't be so condescending," Lily glared, immediately regretting even thinking of being study partners with him.

"The answer is no, Evans," he replied coldly, halting all conversation.

Lily heaved a frustrated sigh, causing someone nearby to whisper, "Shut up."

**XXX**

Lily looked out the window at the vibrant orange and red leaves swaying in the breeze and struggled to focus her mind on her Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson. The new teacher, Professor Elroy, seemed to prefer it when her students read their heavy Defence textbooks, as opposed to actually putting the theory into practise. The Marauders were laughing and passing notes back and forth relatively indiscreetly; Snape and Narcissa were talking quietly; and Marlene was practically snoring. At last, the bell rang, and everyone was anxious to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Lily had a free period and so she opted to head to the library to begin working on her Defence homework. To her consternation, Potter appeared next to her as she climbed up the stairwell.

"Yes, Potter?" sighed Lily, who knew she would not be able to get away from him easily.

"Going to the library, Evans?" asked Potter, smiling at her.

"Maybe."

"Want to do the Defence essay with me?"

"No, I'm doing Herbology."

"Even better!"

Lily sighed again in exasperation and continued to walk up the stairs. They strolled down the corridor in the direction of the library, James trying to make conversation all the while, and Lily shuddered inwardly when they passed by the narrow corridor where she had been hexed by the Slytherins.

Lily was thankful when they had arrived in the library, as James would have to be quiet, unless he wanted to face a lecture from the ruthless Madame Pince. They sat at a table in the Herbology section, Lily reading _Plants of the Bermuda Triangle _while James read _Exotic Plants for the Shipwrecked_.

"So, Evans…" started James, looking at her from over the top of his book.

She looked up. "Yes?"

"We're still going to Hogsmeade together, right?"

Lily sighed. "I suppose so."

"Great. I'm really looking forward to it," he grinned. "Me, you, together…"

"Oh yes…very fun indeed," she muttered shortly.

"Can't wait." Setting his book down, he took a glance at his watch. "Oh, I've got to meet Peter in the common room soon. So I'll see you later?"

"'Bye," Lily replied carelessly, not looking up from her book.

He stood up and gave her a pleased grin before walking out of sight.

"What the hell have you gotten you self into, Lily?" she groaned once she heard the library doors close, laying her book down on the table and burying her hands in her face.

**XXX**

"Well, I'm going with Amelia. We're thinking about staying at one of the inns for about an hour so we can…you know…" said Nott at dinner the night before Hogsmeade.

"Shag each other senseless?" finished Snape, nearly losing his appetite at the very idea.

Nott just smirked and resumed eating his shepherd's pie. Severus rolled his eyes and sipped his pumpkin juice.

"And you, Severus?" asked Rosier, taking a gulp from his own goblet.

"What about me?" Severus snarled, knowing what Evan was referring to.

"Hogsmeade. Who are you going with, if anyone?"

"I'm not going with anyone. I just want to get some candy, look at some books, and rest for the day," Severus answered. "Hogsmeade lost its sparkle by fourth year, if you ask me."

"You're boring when you aren't doing something spell- or potion-related," said Regulus, plopping down onto the bench next to Severus.

"Thank you," he said sarcastically.

"Anytime," acknowledged Regulus. "You can come with me to Hogsmeade. My date got sick."

Severus shrugged. He wasn't very hungry, so he looked around the room in a bored manner. His eyes strayed to the Gryffindor table and his lip curled when he spotted the Marauders. Potter was running his hand through his hair as usual, and Black was laughing, his perfect hair casually covering part of his face. Severus noticed a few girls staring longingly at Black and he could feel his shepherd's pie starting to rise up his throat. Peter looked nervous but excited about something, but that wasn't anything new. However, he became intrigued when he noticed Remus stand up abruptly. Lupin said something to his friends before walking briskly out the double doors, clutching his side slightly with a pained look on his face. The Marauders' faces immediately transformed with worry and they started conversing quickly in hushed voices.

"Something seems weird about that Lupin guy," Regulus said offhandedly, tipping some pork chops onto his plate.

"Yes, I've noticed that as well," said Severus. "And I plan on figuring out what it is," he added with determination, clenching his fists tightly on the table.

"Well good luck on that."

"Stuff it, Black," Severus spat.

"Will do," Regulus returned through a mouth full of mashed potatoes.

**XXX**

Lily woke up feeling oddly refreshed. Looking around and seeing that nobody was awake yet, she got out of bed and walked over towards a large mirror in the corner of the spacious room. It was still dark outside and, not wanting to turn on a light, she pulled out her wand and whispered, _"Lumos."_ Raising the skirt of her floral nightgown and lowering the waistband of her knickers, she held the wand tip to her hip. In the mirror, she saw that the bruise from the incident in the corridor was almost gone. Her other bruises had healed within a few days of the encounter, but her hip was another story.

"What are you doing?" asked a groggy Marlene. Lily clapped a hand to her chest and whirled around in surprise.

"Why did you scare me like that?" whispered Lily.

"Answer my question first, and then I'll answer yours."

"I wasn't doing anything," she lied.

"You were looking at your side. What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing. Go back to sleep."

"You're a horrid liar, Lily," murmured Marlene. She got up, untied the scarf around her hair, and studied herself in the mirror next to Lily.

"Bloody rain yesterday turned my hair into a mess!" she whispered angrily, trying to tame her wild hair with her fingers.

"Afros are very trendy amongst the Muggles, Marlene," sniggered Lily.

"Yeah, well, Muggles are nutters," Marlene dismissed. "Oh well, I suppose it's braids today," Marlene sighed, getting back into bed. "Now what were you looking at?"

"Nothing, Marlene…I can't look at myself in the mirror?"

There was no response, just the quiet rumbles of Marlene snoring. Lily tried to fall asleep again, but after tossing and turning for a few minutes, she gave up, grabbed her wand and went downstairs to the common room.

The embers in the fireplace were dying down, glowing red and yellow. The hearth still gave off heat, however, and she sat close to it, the heat making her feel warm despite her thin nightgown.

All of a sudden, the peaceful silence was broken when the portrait door opened and Sirius, James, and Peter stumbled through, looking exhausted and rather pink in the face. When they reached the entrance to the boys' dormitory, Lily found her voice.

"Hey!" she barked.

The three stopped dead in their tracks and turned their heads slowly to look at the prying redhead. James' hand immediately went up to his unruly hair.

"Hello, Evans. Nice to see you this fine morning," he grinned sheepishly.

"You three were out quite early, don't you think?" said Lily.

"No, we just wanted to take a little morning stroll," said Sirius smoothly. Peter looked positively jumpy.

"Well you shouldn't be out this early, or late, as I would suspect is really the case," Lily scolded, placing her hand on her uninjured hip. "Dumbledore has made the rules stricter since the war started and you can't be out of the common room before six o'clock," Lily said. She looked at a piece of folded up parchment in Sirius' hand. "What's that?"

"This? Just a piece of parchment. There's nothing on it, you can check for yourself," said James at once, as Sirius hurriedly hid the parchment behind his back.

"No, that's alright. Something tells me you're telling the truth."

"Okay, can we go now?" asked Sirius irritably, feigning a loud yawn.

"Yeah, sure. I'm not in the punishing mood today," she said with a smirk. "Hey, where's Remus?"

The boys looked at each other pointedly before Peter said, "He's upstairs sleeping."

"Oh, that's odd. You four are usually inseparable." Lily raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but shrugged it off. "Oh, well, then. Go up to bed," instructed Lily.

Sirius and Peter walked up the stairs, leaving James with Lily, standing there rather awkwardly.

"Well…goodnight…er—morning," he said, his hand entangled in his hair again.

"Yes, good morning," she said quietly and James followed Sirius and Peter up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

She heard his hurried footsteps fade away as she lay on the couch in front of the fireplace. She lounged in the foetal position, gazing at the glowing coals, her mind in a different world. Without warning, she felt her eyelids get heavy and before she knew it, she slipped off into unconsciousness on the Gryffindor couch.

**XXX**

"_Need a hand?" said the hauntingly friendly voice. He looked down at himself; he had fallen in a mud-puddle. Of all the places to fall…a mud-puddle. He cursed again and looked up. All he could see was that blinding white light, but in front of him, a hand with a bright yellow glow was reaching out for him. For a second, he dared to look away from it, and all he saw was darkness; harsh winds nipped at his hair, and he seemed to sink deeper into the mud. He looked up and the hand was still there…waiting, extended for him. He was afraid to touch the hand…it seemed too sketchy, too mysterious. However, the glow seemed to put him under a spell. He couldn't look away and before he knew it, he reached out and held onto the hand._

_"Good choice!" said the voice brightly, and the hand began pulling him at a dizzying speed. He felt wind go through his limp hair, his eyes began to water, and still there was that blackness all around him, except for the light and glowing hand pulling him forward._

_Suddenly everything went into slow motion and his surroundings filled with more light, eliminating the darkness. Then, without warning, the pulling stopped and Severus fell flat on his face on a lawn of fresh grass, drenched with dew, before he blacked out. _

Severus awoke from his dream with a sharp pain across his face, though instead of cursing whoever did it to pieces, he sat straight up, feeling light-headed.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Wilkes, pulling on his black, silk robes.

"You know, there are other ways of waking me up than slapping me," Severus growled.

Wilkes shrugged. "Regulus is waiting for you in the common room, just so you know."

"Thank you," muttered Severus. He quickly put on fresh clothes and went to the common room. A part of him wanted to find out more about his dreams, but another part of him felt as though the quest would be horribly stupid. _Professor Herlownia would eat this up_, he thought with a shudder. Professor Herlownia was the Divination teacher, and quite an eccentric and crazy one at that. In his fifth year, they spent nearly half the year on dream interpretation, though Snape thought the subject was useless; based on chance, not reality. He scored well in the class, however, by lying through nearly the whole thing. He decided that the dream wasn't important now and pushed it out of his mind.

The common room was abuzz and he spotted Regulus leaning against the far wall. His hair was growing longer now, and with a grimace, Snape noticed that he was looking more and more like Sirius.

"Ready?" asked Regulus.

"Sure," replied Severus.

They walked through the portrait hole and down the dim dungeon corridors. The torches on the walls shone down on the stone floor and the sound of their boots echoed off the walls.

"So, who was your date?" fished Severus, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Rachel Milonyoni of Ravenclaw. She got a nasty rash from a streeler yesterday, though. Some kid let one loose around the common room and Rachel wanted to hold it. I guess she didn't know that even though they only burn plants, they leave rashes on humans. Now her right hand is red, blotchy, and swollen." Regulus frowned, not bothering to hide his disgust.

"What an idiot," Severus said.

Regulus smiled. "Yeah, for a Ravenclaw she's not the sharpest quill in the shop. Still, she's all right. She's from a prevailing pure-blood family as well. Mum certainly approved, although the Milonyoni family doesn't associate with…prouder pure-bloods often…if you catch my drift."

Severus nodded and Regulus continued.

"They believe it would ruin their reputation among the general population if they were seen as pure-blood activists. But they have a strong influence, so that's first-rate."

"I see," said Severus in a bored tone.

"So what do you want to do when we get there?"

"Go to Honeydukes. Maybe the bookstore, too."

"Okay."

They walked through the door and entered the entrance hall where over a hundred noisy students were assembled, waiting for Mr. Filch to cross their names off his list of students allowed to go to Hogsmeade.

"Stand aside, stand aside! If you lot want to go to Hogsmeade then get in one ruddy line!" barked the familiar voice of Filch, as he made his way through the crowd of teenagers, his list of students in his hands, his cat Mrs. Norris at his heels.

He and Regulus stood in line talking about nothing significant when, to Severus' dismay, Black, Potter, Pettigrew, and Evans stood behind him.

"Why hello there, Snivellus!" said Black with a smug smile, glancing at his brother for less than a second.

"Sirius!" Lily chided.

"Well, sorry, Evans. I didn't know greeting someone was considered rude."

"That's not his name, Black," Lily snapped with a fierce look.

Severus glared at each them in turn, and he noticed that the Marauders were short one member.

"Where's Lupin?" he sneered. "Sick again?"

"And why the hell do you care?" spat James.

"Oh, just curious. Hopefully he's not doing anything…against the rules," Snape answered silkily.

"It should be against the rules to look so greasy," said Sirius. James and Peter laughed, though Severus noticed that Lily had a look in her eyes that was apologizing for her companions' behaviour.

"So, who're you going to Hogsmeade with?" asked Sirius in mock interest. He turned to look at Regulus and smiled pleasantly. "Oh, looks like our little Snivellus has a date."

James and Peter snickered again.

"Shut the fuck up, Sirius," Regulus retorted dangerously through clenched teeth.

"Tut, tut," Sirius replied, shaking his head and wagging a finger at his sibling. "I don't think Mum would be pleased to hear that language coming out of your mouth, little brother."

"I'm not your brother," hissed Regulus in a chilling whisper.

"What was that? Seems like you've developed Snape's mutter," Sirius smirked.

"I said: I'm. Not. Your. Brother," Regulus repeated clearly, his hands now clenched into tight fists.

Severus, James, Peter and Lily stood there, looking back and forth between the two boys, starting to get nervous.

"Next!" shouted the voice of Filch. He checked off Regulus and Severus' names from off the long list before nearly pushing them through the double doors. Severus glanced over his shoulder and saw that Sirius had an oddly blank expression on his face, a sight that made him smirk with satisfaction before walking down the lane with Regulus.

**XXX**

"Sirius, I'm sure he didn't really mean what he said," said Lily consolingly as they walked down the road towards the front gates of Hogwarts.

"He meant every word, Evans, I'm sure of it," Sirius spat. "Oh hell, why do I even care? I don't even like Regulus. He's just a thickheaded pure-blood fanatic like my parents and everyone else in the Black family…except for Andromeda that is…and my Uncle Alphard who gave me some gold when I went to live with Prongs, but that's about it. I reckon he'll be a Death Eater and make Mum proud."

The rest of the walk down was tense and quiet, but when they reached Hogsmeade, Sirius and Peter headed straight for Zonko's, leaving Lily and James to themselves.

"So…" stared James with a big smile. Lily grinned reluctantly.

"So…"

"Hey, how about we go to Honeydukes?" suggested James.

"Um, sure…why not?" said Lily. She had to admit, it was a good idea; it was one of her favourite shops. They entered the very crowded confectionery shop, and the familiar sight excited Lily as it always did. The walls were stacked with scrumptious sweets, some in brightly coloured wrapping, while others were in vast mason jars; some even had wings and flew around the store. The couple went their separate ways--James towards a group of boys daring each other to eat a chocolate-covered cockroach, while Lily searched for her favourite chocolate-pecan cauldron clusters. After a few moments searching, she was successful with her search, and scooped some from the large mason jar, and put them in a complementary Honeydukes shopping bags. Lily then went towards the blood lollypops, seriously considering owling a few to Petunia, when a familiar scoff on her left caught her attention.

"Are you actually considering buying those things?" asked Severus quietly as he looked at a display of elf-shaped honey sweets, obviously not wanting anyone to know he was talking to her.

"Maybe, for my sister," said Lily, also making it look as if she wasn't talking to him.

He snorted. "She may want something with less blood in it. May I suggest the sour worms?"

"You mean the ones that are still alive?"

"Of course."

Lily chuckled cautiously. Severus then left and bought his items at the register with Regulus. Lily continued to skim through the various chocolate items, when Alexander Jacobson greeted her.

"Those are really good. Gave some to my mum last year and she said that she would become a witch just for them," he said, pointing at the chocolate mint lollypops.

"Thanks for the suggestion," grinned Lily.

"So, are you here with anyone?" His cheeks began to flush a bright red. "If not, do you want to go with me to Madame Puddifoot's?" asked Alexander shyly.

"Sorry, I'm actually here with--"

"Lily, I was looking for you," said James, a couple of Honeydukes bags in his hands. He looked at the boy next to her and glowered. "Alright, Jacobson?" he asked rather bluntly.

"Potter," Alexander nodded in acknowledgement, looking at Potter with comparable dislike. He turned to Lily and waved lamely. "I think I have to meet someone now. See you around, Lily."

Lily waved her hand goodbye and he smiled weakly in return before leaving the store. She turned to James. "You could have been a bit more polite," she scolded.

"What did I do?" James asked, raising his hands in confusion.

She sighed, "Oh nothing. Just let me pay for these, and--"

"You don't need to pay, I will," offered James.

"Don't worry, I'm quite capable of using my own money," she said firmly.

After standing in line for what seemed like all day, Lily and James exited the store and walked down the puddle-filled streets of Hogsmeade. Students were everywhere; most were fooling around while older witches and wizards watched with affronted expressions. Some couples were necking quite publicly on benches and tables outside some cafés, while others bickered in the streets. A few young girls were sitting outside of the bookstore, reading the latest instalment of a popular book series that followed the adventures of a witch living amongst Muggles. In other words, Hogsmeade was quite lively. It had begun to rain slightly, but it didn't bother Lily, though it didn't make James' hair any neater, either. Passing a shop window, Lily caught a glimpse of the reflection of her bright yellow boots and a large puddle behind her. She smiled mischievously and took a running leap into the puddle, splashing water everywhere.

"What was that about?" laughed James.

"I don't know," she answered simply. "Don't you ever get sudden urges to do something random?"

"I…I guess so. Though the last time I jumped in a puddle was probably when I was ten."

"Maybe you should do it more often."

"Maybe I will."

She smiled a little and they continued to walk, Lily jumping in puddles occasionally. It began to rain harder, and Lily and James decided to go to the Three Broomsticks. The large tavern was full of students and inhabitants of Hogsmeade trying to escape the rain, but they eventually found a seat in the corner of the room.

"What can I get for you two lovebirds?" asked the busty, curvaceous Madam Rosemerta, her blonde hair in a dishevelled bun and her purple high-heeled shoes sparkling. Lily discreetly rolled her eyes at the description.

"Just a warm butterbeer for me, please," Lily smiled as she took off her coat and hung it on the back of her chair.

"Shot of firewhiskey, please," said James in an exaggeratedly deep voice.

"Two butterbeers it is," Rosemerta smirked. She hurried off towards the bar, her purple shoes clacking as she ignored the turned heads of several adolescent boys.

Lily kicked James under the table, noticing his gaze lingering a little longer than necessary on Rosmerta's figure.

"OUCH!" he exclaimed, grabbing for his leg.

"Sorry," she said with a fake smile.

They soon got their warm butterbeers, in large glass mugs; Lily looked out the large window and quietly watched the rain hit the cobblestone streets. She had a strange feeling suddenly and looked at James, who was watching her dreamily over the top of his glass.

"Stop looking at me, Potter," she snapped, a blush creeping its way up her cheeks.

"Why?" he grinned.

"It's making me uncomfortable."

"I can't help it, Evans. You're just so—"

"Utterly repulsive?"

They both turned to see Narcissa Black snickering with Amelia Bulstrode and Reina Gulmturmble of Ravenclaw. The girls held mugs of butterbeer in their hands and they all wore black robes with deep silver fur trim around the cuff. The three looked ridiculously over-dressed and out of place.

"What do you want, Black?" Lily glared.

"Shut up, Mudblood," snapped Reina.

"Call her that again and you'll regret it Gulturmble," James snarled, whipping his wand out of his robes.

"Potter, please…they're not worth it," Lily tried to soothe.

"She just called you—" James argued.

"I know what she called me, but please…"

James reluctantly put his wand back in his robes, but his hazel eyes burned with fury.

"It's really a pity, Potter. You, coming from such a long line of aristocratic pure-bloods and falling for muck like Evans. Though your parents _are_ quite the blood-traitors, aren't they?" Narcissa said smugly, looking as her nails and giving him a cold smile.

"Don't bring Evans _or_ my family into this, Narcissa," James warned.

"Or what? You're going to sic Evans on us? We wouldn't be able to stand the stench if she got any closer to us," she jeered.

James made a sharp move towards his wand again, though Lily had a vice-like grip on his arm before it got there.

"Leave us alone. _Now_," Lily said icily as her voice shook with irritation, her green eyes penetrating Narcissa's blue ones.

"Look, girls. Evans is trying to be intimidating! That is a laugh. Let's see what else she can do. Hey, Mudblood, can you roll over?" Amelia asked. The girls shrieked with mirth. Lily was surprised all of Hogsmeade couldn't hear them—though, certainly, many people in the pub were starting to watch the scene with interest.

Lily's face grew warmer. _Don't let them get to you_, she told herself. _They want this reaction from you. Get a hold of yourself, Lily_. She peeked at James and he was still looking at Narcissa, Amelia, and Reina as if he wanted to mangle them.

"Oh, I think we embarrassed her! Look, she's flushing!" howled Amelia.

Narcissa then took a step towards Lily and "accidentally" fumbled with her mug of butterbeer, which proceeded to spill all over the front of Lily's white blouse and in the lap of her long grey skirt.

"Oops, didn't mean for that to happen," Narcissa gasped with a hand over her mouth, her comrades biting their tongues to keep from exploding with laughter. James froze and the entire tavern was quiet; even Madam Rosemerta, who was taking orders from a table of goblins, was silent.

Lily shuddered with pent-up anger before conjuring up that sweet smile again. "An accident? You mean like this?"

Lily stood up and poured her entire cup of amber liquid over Narcissa's blonde tresses. Narcissa screamed and pushed her sticky, wet hair out of her face. Lily, lost in the moment, laughed hysterically.

Narcissa took off her expensive coat, throwing it to Reina, and growled. "You putrid, lowlife piece of rubbish!" Without warning, Narcissa slapped Lily hard across the face.

At this, Madam Rosmerta finally had the sense to yell "Enough!" She strode across the room, but it was already too late. Lily placed her palm on her burning cheek and gritted her teeth before lunging at Narcissa; falling to the floor, they began pulling, hitting, and scratching anything they could get their hands on: hair, clothes, jewellery, limbs…

Some girls gasped, others giggled in disbelief. The boys cheered the combatants on tastelessly, and the adults in the tavern shook their heads in disgust. After he snapped out of his daze, James promptly grabbed Lily around the waist and tried to pry her away from Narcissa, though Lily's flailing limbs didn't make it an easy task.

"Let me go! I haven't wrung her scrawny little neck yet!" Lily seethed.

"You filthy Mudblood! You broke my necklace! Wait until my mother hears about this!" Narcissa screeched.

The two girls looked a mess; Narcissa resembled a wet mop, while Lily's clothes looked like they had been run over by a hippogriff. Boys were still whooping and hollering but stopped as soon as the door of the Three Broomsticks flew open.

"Miss Evans! Miss Black! Just what in Merlin's name do you two think you're doing?" yelled the harsh voice of Professor McGonagall. McGonagall ran towards the girls, Hagrid behind her. Lily's kicking ceased immediately.

"You two are coming with us this instant!" McGonagall hissed. Her lips were in the familiar thin line and her face looked livid. Hagrid stepped outside while McGonagall waited for the two girls by the door. Another whistle pierced through the room as Lily and Narcissa exited the Three Broomsticks.

"Detention tomorrow with Mr. Filch, Mr. Malarstein!" yelled McGonagall before exiting. James ran out after them, tripping over a chair on his way.

"Professor, it wasn't Evans' fault! It was—"

"Potter, this is none of your concern. I thank you for restraining Miss Evans, but other than that—"

"It was Narcissa who started it, though! She's the one—"

"James, I don' think yeh wanna get involved," said Hagrid quietly.

"But—"

"Mr. Potter, please go find Mr. Black and Mr. Pettigrew and leave Hagrid and I be! As I've said, this is none of your concern!" McGonagall rubbed her temples tiredly.

James hesitated before giving up on arguing any further, and sulked back into the tavern as the foursome walked back along High Street.

They trudged back up the long drive towards Hogwarts through the light rain, Lily feeling too ashamed too look at anyone, instead hanging her head and looking at her yellow-clad feet contrasting brightly against the muddy ground.

_What if I get detention? Or can't go on anymore Hogsmeade weekends? What if I'm expelled? _Her brain buzzed, growing more distraught by the minute.

"What were yeh thinking back there, Lily?" whispered Hagrid in her ear, making her start.

"I…I don't know what came over me," Lily sighed, wringing her hands. "I guess after years of being called a Mudblood…I just reached my boiling point," she reasoned, still feeling disgraced.

Hagrid sighed and stroked his bushy beard, "Hey. 'Ow's 'bout yeh come to me cabin a bit la'er for a cuppa?"

She looked up at him, "Really? I haven't been to your cabin since--"

"Yer first year when yeh was crying when that brute Malfoy said yer kind didn' belong at Hogwarts. I found yeh, remember? Crying on the edge of the forest," Hagrid reminisced, a hint of fondness in his voice. "So, yeh think you're up fer it?"

The rain poured harder and Lily heard Narcissa whining about her soaked clothes.

"Hush up, Miss Black! Nobody cares if your robes are house-elf clean only," snapped McGonagall.

A satisfied smile slowly graced Lily's features. "Yes, I'm up for it."

* * *

A/N: Long chapter, huh? Much thanks to **OutForAWalk**, **Stalker's Stalker**, **Idancer**, **romancebookworm4ever**, and my lovely beta **JTfanaddict** for reviewing the last chapter. 


	9. A Necklace For Lily

Disclaimer: You know the drill

A/N: My beta gave me an early Christmas present: Chapter 9! Hurrah! Thanks **JTfanaddict** and thanks to all my loyal readers who have eagerly awaited an update.

* * *

_**X A Necklace For Lily**_

"You're kidding!" Sirius yelled in surprise, startling the other customers shopping in Zonko's Joke Shop.

"No, I'm not kidding," confirmed James.

"Who won?" Peter asked with interest, eyeing the merchandise on the shelves.

"Neither of them, to tell you the truth," said James. "Lily hit Narcissa pretty hard in the stomach, I think, but Narcissa had a good grip on Lily's hair… There was a lot of screaming."

"That must have been fun to watch, though; two girls, covered in butterbeer, going at it." Peter grinned, looking uncharacteristically mischievous.

"Wormtail, you dog," Sirius laughed.

"No, that's you, Padfoot," Peter corrected him, his joking expression replaced with one of seriousness.

"Er, right," Sirius said, rolling his eyes at Peter's obliviousness. "Anyway, what do you think of this? It's a spray that makes your ears grow up to—Prongs? Prongs, are you listening?"

"Should I give the necklace to her today or later?" James contemplated aloud, his brow furrowing in concentration.

"Necklace? What necklace?" questioned Sirius, setting the spray can back onto its display shelf.

"Oh, sorry," apologised James, his attention returning to his friends. "I got a necklace for her at that expensive jewellery store down the road," he explained, digging through the pockets of his trousers. After a few moments of searching, he withdrew his hands, revealing a red velvet box in his left. His friends crowded around his outstretched palm and stared, as if anticipating some exciting event to occur.

"Well? Are you going to open it or what?" Sirius finally said, breaking the silence.

James opened the box and gently pulled out a long necklace, set with a black opal, cut cabochon style, with a deep blue background. James turned his hand slightly, allowing the light from the shop to reflect off the opal's surface, and a rainbow of colours glimmered across the faces of the Marauders.

"The opal's 'straight from Australia', the woman in the shop said," James reported proudly, puffing his chest out.

"Wow, Prongs! How much did that set you back?" gasped Peter in awe.

"Well, let's just say that I could buy eight Silver Nebulas and it still wouldn't cost the full price of this baby," said James.

"So, it's finally official between you two, then?" Remus asked.

"Great! Now do Wormtail, Moony, Frank and me get a break from your angst in the dormitory?" Sirius inquired eagerly.

"Well…it's not exactly…'official'," James confessed awkwardly, looking down at his feet. "Yet," he added.

"I'm surprised she even went out with you in the first place. I mean after last year…" said Sirius impertinently.

"Yeah, after she told you that you made her sick. Remember, Pr—"

"Of course I remember! It was one of the worst days of my life," James muttered under his breath.

"Well, it was pretty fun taking off Snivellus' pants. Disgusting, of course, but still quite entertaining," Sirius smirked, closing his eyes as if savouring the memory.

"Believe me, boys, this gift will have to get her to like me. I mean, look at it! All girls love jewellery, right?" James asked them desperately, holding the necklace out in front of his face and raking his eyes over it with scrutiny.

"My mum does," said Peter.

"What if she doesn't want it?" asked Sirius.

James looked as if he was on the verge of insanity. "Doesn't want it? Why wouldn't she want it?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. This is Evans we're talking about. Her feelings have surprised you before."

"Yeah, I mean it's as though—YEOUCH!" yelled Peter, clutching his index finger as the Zonko's box he had been inspecting fell to the floor. "It bit me! That stupid box actually bit me!"

Sirius looked at the small box, which was now idle, lying innocently on the ground. "Honestly, Wormtail. This is Zonko's. I'm not surprised it bit you."

**XXX**

"So. I'll start with you, Miss Black. What exactly caused your positively boisterous behaviour in the Three Broomsticks?" asked Professor McGonagall.

Lily and Narcissa sat next to each other in stiff, uncomfortable chairs across from McGonagall's desk; Lily placing a drying charm on her socks, Narcissa fruitlessly trying to get her hair back to its usual shiny state.

"Well," started Narcissa in a mature voice, "I accidentally spilled my drink on Miss Evans and she proceeded to attack me. I told her I didn't mean to do it, but she wouldn't listen! She poured her drink on my head and laughed." Pausing momentarily to heave a distressed sigh, Narcissa flashed Lily a vengeful look out of the corner of her eye. "I don't think she was right in the head at the moment so I had to what I could to defend myself. I'm sure you understand, Professor."

Lily stared at Narcissa with her mouth hanging open in astonishment, though, truth be told, she had expected that Narcissa would lie. She made a slight noise of protest, but Professor McGonagall cut her off. "Quiet, Miss Evans. Did anything else happen, Miss Black?"

"I believe that's all there is to tell, Professor. Miss Evans just attacked me without any provocation," Narcissa finished, acting the perfect victim.

Professor McGonagall turned her bespectacled eyes towards Lily, her lips in a thin line. "Is this true, Miss Evans?"

"Absolutely not, Professor," Lily protested at once.

"So you didn't pour anything on Miss Black?"

"Well, yes, yes I did," Lily blushed. "But only after she poured her drink all over me!" she quickly added at the sight of Professor McGonagall's eyebrows shooting up.

"So it wasn't an accident?"

"No, Professor. Narcissa and her friends came up to Potter and I and provoked us. She not only mocked me, but James as well. Then she poured her drink on me intentionally. Professor McGonagall, I believe my actions were somewhat justified."

"Professor McGonagall, Evans is lying," Narcissa suddenly hissed, abandoning her guise of the wronged party.

"Quiet, Miss Black," snapped Professor McGonagall. "Whether either of you are lying or not, you should be ashamed of yourselves. You are not only students, but prefects, a very highly respected position! You represent Hogwarts and look how you've portrayed the school to the rest of the wizarding world. Brawling in public! What do you expect all of Hogsmeade will think of the rest of our students after seeing your little spat?" Professor McGonagall was now red in the face, her pointed hat nearly falling off her head.

Lily twisted her fingers nervously in her lap while her Head of House continued to scold them, though Narcissa looked rather impassive, looking straight into McGonagall's face. Her expression changed, however, at Professor McGonagall's next words.

"I have a good mind to release the two of you from the prefect position all together!" McGonagall said sternly, slapping her hand upon her desk.

"Wait, Professor—" Narcissa protested immediately.

"You don't mean that!" Lily cut in, fear gripping at her stomach.

"Oh believe me, it is quite possible, girls. The way you two behaved this afternoon was inexcusable," said Professor McGonagall.

"Professor McGonagall, I deeply regret my actions at Hogsmeade and it will never happen again—" said Narcissa.

"It certainly will not!" Professor McGonagall agreed.

"But I believe taking away my position as prefect may be too harsh."

"Too harsh? It undoubtedly is not, Miss Black. I believe you know that being a prefect isn't just a privilege, but a responsibility. You girls just broke not only school rules, but set a horrible example for the lower students! It is your responsibility to show them how to behave!"

Lily was quiet; she felt too sick to speak. _At least now you have something to talk to Hagrid about: how you lost your prefect position,_ she thought miserably.

Professor McGonagall took a deep breath before speaking again, attempting to gain some control over her anger. "You two will serve detention every night for the next three weeks and you may not go to the next Hogsmeade visit," she said stiffly, her lips pressing together once again until they were barely visible.

Lily and Narcissa sat in silence, waiting for her to continue.

"Well? What are you two still doing here? You're dismissed. Go to your respective common rooms immediately," ordered Professor McGonagall, standing up and searching for a folder in a nearby filing cabinet.

The girls glanced at each other before Narcissa spoke, "So…we can just…go?"

"Yes. Am I speaking Mermish?"

"And we're still prefects?" asked Lily hopefully.

McGonagall sighed, "Yes, you two are still prefects. But no more trouble from you two or you'll be removed from your position faster than you can say 'hippogriff'."

"Thank you, Professor," Narcissa breathed, obviously relieved.

"Yes, thank you very much," Lily said quietly.

Professor McGonagall didn't say anything more, so the girls left her room quickly, in case she happened to remember something else she wanted to yell about. As soon as they were a safe distance from her office, Narcissa pulled out her wand, and pointed it at Lily's chest.

"I suggest you watch your back," Narcissa hissed darkly.

"What is your problem? Don't insult me and there will be nothing to worry about!" Lily growled back.

Narcissa and Lily glared daggers at each other, as though killing the other with their eyes.

"There wouldn't be any problems if they stopped letting Mudbloods like you into this school. You don't deserve to be here, you don't deserve to learn magic, you don't even deserve to be a witch. To be honest, you don't deserve anything. I'm saying this for your own good; watch your back and you might be alive next year," Narcissa said in a dangerous whisper, and, with one last fierce look, she turned around and walked down the nearest staircase.

Lily stood in the hallway, alone, cursing herself for not coming up with a comeback, before heading to Hagrid's hut.

The rolling green hills were slippery and had gathered mud from the rain, making it difficult to walk. After about ten minutes of sliding through the thick muck, a large hut came into view on the edge of the Forbidden Forrest. Hagrid opened the door of the hut as Lily approached, wearing an apron and large oven mitts.

"Lily! How'd the meetin' go?" Hagrid called.

"It was horrible," grumbled Lily as she reached the door and entered the hut. It was just like she remembered, a large bed was tucked into the corner of the small hut, a tea kettle was boiling over a pleasant fire, and a messy wooden table sat under the window. She sat at the table while Hagrid checked on the kettle. "I almost lost my prefect position."

"Yer kiddin'! Well, it looked like a heck of a fight, tha's for sure," said Hagrid. "No bruises or scratches?"

"No, just shame," Lily scoffed.

"Don' say that. Just between you an' me, tha' girl probably earned it," Hagrid admitted in a low voice, giving Lily a wink.

Lily smiled and thanked Hagrid as he poured her tea into a large mug before sitting down across from her.

"Did ya' read the _Daily Prophet_ this mornin'?" asked Hagrid gravely.

"No, I skipped breakfast actually, why?" said Lily, growing worried from the serious look on Hagrid's face.

Hagrid got up, retrieved the newspaper from his bed, and handed it to Lily. She gasped, and dropped the paper onto the table. "Oh no. That's awful," she whispered, her hands covering her mouth.

**Marcus Augustine Found Dead After Death Eaters Attack Hounslow**

The body of influential politician and Muggle-born activist, Marcus Augustine, was found last night by Ministry officials in the Hounslow suburb he had been hiding in since June, after receiving numerous death threats on himself and his family.

"He was up late, reading in the living room like he normally does. I went to bed early that night," said his wife, Isabel Augustine. "And then, when I went to get a glass of water, I found him lying face up on the carpet, covered in blood!"

Those who investigated the scene of the crime believe the perpetrator attacked Augustine with several damaging hexes, ultimately murdering him with the killing curse. Mary Augustine, Marcus Augustine's mother, does not know how the Death Eaters found the home.

"It had the best protection that I know of! I don't know how they could have possibly gotten in!"

The glowing Dark Mark above the (_ctd. page 3, column 1_)

Lily couldn't bear to read anymore of the article and pushed the paper away from her.

"There's another one in there. 'Bout the ministry's plans for the next couple o' months…bunch of nutters if yeh ask me," said Hagrid, offering Lily a rock cake, which she politely declined.

"I don't want to read it. This is getting worse," said Lily sadly, picking up her mug with trembling hands.

"It's war, Lily. It's war," said Hagrid, taking a large gulp of tea, some of the warm liquid dribbling into his beard. "Things are—"

"—Only going to get worse. I know," said Lily. "I just wish all of Voldemort's—"

"Don't say that ruddy name!" growled Hagrid, but Lily rolled her eyes.

"I just wish all of You-Know-Who's Death Eaters were rounded up already. Of course, You-Know-Who himself would be even better." Lily smiled slightly, in spite of herself.

"I reckon something big 'as got ter go down fer that to happen," said Hagrid.

"Well that's just what it's going to have to take. What if it's still going on when I'm out of school, where someone like me is at an even higher risk? What if my friends are attacked? What if my family members are victims of all this?" Lily choked out quickly, feeling tears rise to her eyes.

"Whoa there, Lily. Don't worry about this now," Hagrid comforted her, looking slightly dismayed at her outburst of concern. "Tomorrow is Halloween, so you should be lookin' forward to the feast," he reminded her, attempting to cheer Lily up.

"You're right, Hagrid," Lily admitted, sniffling. "Mulling about current events doesn't do anything but depress me. Enough about me, how are you?"

Hagrid sighed and looked out of the window. "I really want ter get a pet of some sort. I've been lonely, ever since Ara—"

"Ara? Ara who?" asked Lily curiously.

"Oh nothin'," said Hagrid quickly and turning his gaze to the clock in the corner. "Maybe yeh should get goin' now. I'm sure yer friends are worried 'bout yeh."

"You're probably right," Lily admitted, grinning at Hagrid's attempt at changing the subject. "It was nice to come here again. Thank you," Lily said gratefully.

"Oy! Take a rock cake to go!" called Hagrid, just as Lily was about to walk through the door.

"Oh, thank you," Lily choked out, taking the stone-like treat with reservation. "That would be lovely," Lily lied with a small grimace.

**XXX**

_Next, cut the toad liver into cubes and put it all into the cauldron. The potion should now be a dull orange._

Severus shook his head. _Wrong, wrong, wrong! _Mincing_ the liver would be much more effective! _He quickly scrawled his correction onto the stained pages and continued reading the instructions.

_If this is so, then perhaps putting the liver in the cauldron with the whale hearts would…no, that won't work._

He dipped his quill into his inkwell and scribbled onto the wrinkled pages of his Advanced Potions book, his small, cramped handwriting making the actual text more and more difficult to read. When he was finally finished correcting what was, in his opinion, the most inaccurate piece of literature he had ever read, he leaned back and set down his quill.

Hogsmeade with Regulus had been better than he expected, though it hadn't been what he'd call thrilling. He and Regulus met up with a few Slytherins, but they didn't do much except discuss the Dark Arts, which wasn't something new. Now as he sat against the rough bark of a tree, feeling the wet grass beneath him, he thought he heard something akin to the snapping of a twig behind him. Shrugging off his suspicions, he went back to checking his Potions book, not noticing the three boys sneaking up behind him.

"Look, boys!" said James. Severus snapped his head around and got to his feet, pulling out his wand and standing squarely in front of James, Sirius, and Peter. James stood with his wand drawn, pointed at Severus' chest, while Sirius twirled his wand lazily in his hand with a toothy smile.

"How quaint, Snivellus catching up on some light reading," sneered James, his hair tussled as usual.

"What do you want, Potter?" hissed Severus, his eyes narrowed and teeth bared.

"Oh, nothing much," replied James, with a mischievous grin. At a flick of his wand, Severus stumbled backwards forcefully and hit his head on the trunk of the tree. Groaning and rubbing the back of his head, he saw that a small amount of blood appeared on his fingers as he drew his hands away. A savage look of rage appeared on his face as the three boys laughed at his injury.

Severus flicked his wrist quickly and James was pushed back, falling hard enough on the ground to knock the wind out of him. Sirius opened his mouth to hex Severus in retaliation, but Severus was too quick for him; with a flick of his wand he incanted the Conjunctivitis Curse and Sirius was temporarily blinded, yelling in pain.

"Fuck, do something! I can't see!" roared Sirius, his arms extended trying to feel around as he staggered around the grass.

Peter looked confused over what to do: help James, help Sirius, run away, or hex Snape. He furrowed his brow and tried the latter: _"Aguamenti!"_ Peter yelped.

A powerful jet of water hit Severus' face, causing him to fall on his back. The water was freezing cold and the chilly weather didn't help the chills coursing throughout his body.

"Good one, Wormtail!" approved James, who was now on his feet and panting with a cruel smile etched upon his face. With a wicked grin, he pointed his wand and aimed a disarming curse at him.

"You should be thanking Peter, Snivellus. He tried to get the grease out of your hair."

Peter snickered, adding fuel to James' fire. "Pity, it didn't work, your greasy hair must have repelled the water!"

"Mates! A little help over here would be nice!" yelled Sirius, who was still blind and groping around the grass for his wand. James took the hex off Sirius who strode over quickly to Severus, fuming. He looked at Severus' form on the grass with a fierce look before kicking him hard in the side. Severus cursed aloud, but it only came out as an odd groan. The boys laughed and each gave Severus a swift kick before growing bored.

"This is getting dull. Let's get back to the common room," James said with a dramatic yawn. Peter and Sirius exchanged confused looks, but followed James up the lawns, towards the castle. "Oh, and before I forget—_Stupefy!_" said James, looking over his shoulder. They snickered and began walking around to the other side of the castle, as the spell hit Severus, knocking him to the ground.

**XXX**

Lily walked around the grounds, hopelessly trying to clear her head of current events and school duties. The clouds looked as though they were ready to let loose another batch of rain soon, but she didn't mind if it rained on her; it had happened already, and it didn't really bother her that much. In the distance, she saw a figure lying on the ground and her curiosity got the best of her. She walked briskly over to the figure and for some reason, a smirk formed upon her face as she saw Severus Snape sleeping on the grass.

She knelt down beside him and shook his shoulder. "Wake up, sleepy head," Lily said mockingly.

He didn't move. She jabbed him hard in the chest but he still didn't move a muscle. She hesitantly placed her hand on his forehead and with her thumb, pulled his eyelid up, revealing a blank eye staring straight forwards. Her brain suddenly clicked. _"Enervate!" _Lily incanted, pointing her wand at his chest.

Severus' eyes snapped open and he looked up at her with a slightly confused expression. His pale cheeks turned a soft pink as he noticed her hand on his forehead and promptly stood up, breathing shakily. He opened his mouth and looked as though he were going to yell at her, but slowly closed it.

She smiled. "We tend to bump into each other a lot this year, huh?"

"Unfortunately, yes," mumbled Severus.

"I thought you were sleeping," said Lily.

"No, stunned," Severus said with a glower and grabbed his wand from the base of the tree.

"By who?" asked Lily.

"Is it really necessary for me to answer that question?" snapped Severus.

Lily rolled her eyes and stood up. "Potter?"

"And Black and Pettigrew, yes."

"Why can't you lot just stop pestering each other, once and for all?"

Severus snorted. "You really think that it's easy, don't you?"

"Yes," Lily answered simply.

"Potter and I have hated each other since the moment our eyes met. Nothing is going to change that, Evans. So don't even try," Severus sighed, rolling his eyes at her naïveté.

"I wish they weren't so horrible to you, especially Potter. It must be hard," Lily said, looking down at the ground.

"Why do you pity me? I can handle this myself. Can you please just leave me alone?" Severus said through gritted teeth, his hands balling into fists.

"So when you're stunned on the wet ground, I shouldn't help you?" Lily retorted.

"No! And I swear that if you try to help me again, I'll—" Severus started.

"You'll do what?" Lily said coldly, walking towards him as he picked up his book from the ground. "Hex me when I'm not looking like the other losers in your house?"

"I happen to be friends with some of those 'losers'," Severus snapped angrily, not truly feeling his words.

"Well, you're a loser along with them, then. Does that sound satisfactory?" said Lily brazenly.

"I'm not a loser," said Snape through gritted teeth.

"Fine, I suppose 'loser' is a tad too good for you. You're nothing but an arse!" said Lily, a fierce look on her freckled face. She then pushed past him, hitting his shoulder, and strode up the grassy turf towards the castle.

**XXX**

_You don't regret a word. You wanted her away from you and you told her the truth. It isn't my problem she was over sensitive, was it? No, of course not. _His musings distracted him from his Potions book and after almost an hour of trying to read, he decided to go to the common room. He walked down the stairs towards the dungeons and reached the door of the portrait hole.

"The password?" the wizard in the painting asked tiredly.

"Servo hostilis propinquus," Severus recited glumly.

"Quite true, quite true," said the wizard, and he let Severus in.

Severus walked into the common room and spotted Narcissa studying by the fire.

"Narcissa," Severus said, pulling up a chair next to her.

"Severus," Narcissa said smoothly, closing her book.

"How was Hogsmeade?" Severus inquired.

"You haven't heard?" Narcissa shot back nastily.

"No," Severus said evenly.

Narcissa crossed her legs and recounted the day's events; the altercation in Hogsmeade and the meeting with McGonagall. Severus found the whole story quite entertaining and listened to Narcissa with a look of amusement. She folded her arms across her chest. "Ugly, idiotic Mudblood, that girl is. It was rather fun pouring butterbeer on her, though," Narcissa finished, smiling evilly and looking at the fireplace.

Severus looked at the fire as well, curtain of hair over his face as usual, and he sensed Narcissa looking at him.

"Where have you been?" Narcissa asked curiously, the smirk evident in her tone.

"Outside, why?"

"By yourself?"

"Yes. Why would that be such a surprise for you?" Severus said calmly.

"I suppose it's not," Narcissa said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"So, have you heard from Lucius lately?" asked Severus, hoping to change the subject to something he considered more appealing. He rarely heard from him nowadays and he was actually quite interested.

Narcissa immediately brightened up. "I received word from him just a few days ago. He mentioned you."

"Why couldn't he just send me a letter himself?" Severus asked, frustrated.

"Well, I don't know!" said Narcissa with exasperation. "Why don't _you_ send a letter to _him?"_

"Because _I'm_ not the one who promised to write," replied Severus.

"I'm sure he just forgot or something," Narcissa insisted.

"That's a load of bollocks and you know it!" Severus snapped.

"Well, Severus, I didn't know you were so passionate about this," Narcissa smirked.

"I'm not," Severus said quickly, colour rising to his cheeks.

"I'm sure he'll write to you soon. Maybe he wants to wait until something interesting happens?" Narcissa offered.

"Maybe. Anyway, what did he say about me?" Severus asked.

Narcissa looked around before whispering in his ear. "He mentioned you to a certain…Dark Lord."

Severus whipped his head around to look straight into her eyes. "What?"

Narcissa eyes gleamed with excitement. "Lucius mentioned you to the Dark Lord. He even says that the Dark Lord sounds fairly interested."

Severus' eyes grew wide. "Are you serious?"

"Now why would Lucius lie about something like that?" Narcissa said with a raised brow.

"Why would he do that?" questioned Severus, anger rising in his voice.

Narcissa furrowed her brows. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you sound upset about this."

"I am."

"And why the hell are you?" whispered Narcissa in disbelief. "This is a great thing, Severus. The Dark Lord is interested in your skills. I'm sure Lucius told him about your remarkable talent in the Dark Arts. Not to mention your potion expertise and overall knowledge in many branches of magic."

Severus groaned and turned his head to Narcissa. "I've told him time and time again that I'm not sure if I want to become a follower of the Dark Lord or not."

Narcissa looked positively scandalised. "Not _sure_ or not interested at all? Severus, you must be joking. This is an amazing opportunity. You do believe in the Dark Lord's cause, right?"

Severus looked back at the fire and didn't reply.

"Right?" hissed Narcissa sternly.

"Some parts, yes," said Severus quietly.

"I don't understand. What in the world is holding you back?" asked Narcissa. He remained silent, Narcissa grabbed his arm but he pulled it out of her grasp.

"This will remain between you and I," Narcissa whispered definitely.

Severus watched the flames rise up in the fireplace before answering in a barely audible voice, "I don't know."

Narcissa sighed loudly and moved away from his ear. "Perhaps you just need more time to think this all over, then you'll know."

"Yes…perhaps," Severus mumbled.

Narcissa stood up and placed her hand on his back consolingly. "Maybe you'll come to your senses after you eat something."

Severus grudgingly pulled himself out of the extremely comfortable armchair and headed out of the portrait hole with Narcissa.

"What is this? They go in and come right back out of the house? Merlin!" complained the wizard in the portrait behind them.

Severus and Narcissa mounted the stairs and entered the front hall. The smell from the Great Hall was intoxicating. _Maybe I _am _hungry. _They sat at the table across from each other when Regulus appeared and sat next to Severus.

"Hear about what happened in Hogsmeade?" asked Regulus with an amused look on his face.

"Yes," said Severus, placing some sautéed carrots on his plate.

"Avery told me. Pretty funny, huh?" smirked Regulus.

"No, not really," snapped Narcissa.

"Hey, do you mind helping me with my History of Magic essay, Severus?" asked Regulus, pouring some pumpkin juice into his goblet.

"Fine," agreed Severus grudgingly, though he was distracted by the appearance of the four Marauders. He watched as Remus Lupin entered the great hall with his friends, looking very dishevelled, as though he had just got out of bed. His dirty-blond hair was messy, his eyes had bags under them, and he seemed to walk with a slight limp, though nobody appeared to pay it much attention. His suspicion about the group was greater than ever; he needed to know how to catch the Marauders in whatever they were up to.

**XXX**

Lily was surprised that she had behaved the way she did towards Severus. _And things were starting to go along pretty well between us_, she thought.

She curled up on one of the couches in the common room in front of the fire, eating her chocolates. She tended to eat when she was upset and was surprised she was not chronically overweight by now. She wore her comfortable Muggle jeans, a stripped black and white sweater. _A perfect pigging-out outfit, _she thought. Her friends were at dinner but she didn't feel like eating anything…except for chocolate.

"Evans?"

Lily turned around to see James standing behind the couch. She looked around him to see Sirius, Peter, and Remus talking amongst themselves near the door, occasionally looking over in her direction.

"Potter?" said Lily nonchalantly. He took that as his cue to walk around the couch and sit next to her.

"You look upset," James said, looking at the mountain of chocolate-pecan cauldron cluster wrappers. He then glanced at her outfit. "And Muggle-like."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Well I've certainly felt better…and have looked more Muggle-like."

James then had a broad smile on his face. "I got you something that I thought might cheer you up. You know, after what happened in the Three Broomsticks," he said. Lily furrowed her brows. "A gift," he said.

"A gift?" Lily asked.

"Yes. I think you'll like it," James pulled out the red velvet box from his pocket and held it out to her.

"Well?" said Lily impatiently.

He opened the box and she gasped loudly. James pulled out a necklace and held it up for her. Her mouth hung open as she watched the necklace shimmer, emphasized by the firelight.

"Oh Potter… It's beautiful. You—" gasped Lily.

"It's an opal, straight from Australia," James said.

"I know, I love opals," Lily said.

"Here, let me put it on for you," James offered, leaning closer.

"I can do it myself," snapped Lily. She stood up, moved her hair out of the way, and clasped the necklace around her neck gingerly.

She touched her necklace as though the slightest touch would break it. He looked at her with a smile. "Beautiful," James said.

Lily blushed, but she didn't feel right. She didn't like James romantically and her intention wasn't to be a tease. She may not have liked James, but he didn't deserve to get mixed messages.

"I can't accept this," Lily said softly.

"Why not?" James asked. His eyes were so wide that she thought they would fall out of his eye sockets.

"Because…because I'm not …" Lily started, looking around her nervously.

"Because why?" James said.

"Because, you should give this to a girl who has…deep, romantic feelings for you and…I'm not that girl," Lily said quietly.

James looked hurt but tried not to show it, though he was failing miserably. "Oh."

"I'm sorry," Lily reached behind her neck to undo the necklace clasp. "I'm sure this cost you a lot of money, but—"

"No, keep it," James said.

Lily shook her head. "No, I won't allow it."

"Lily, I want you to have it," James said firmly. She fingered her necklace and looked at the fireplace uncomfortably.

"I want you to have it," James repeated.

"Are you serious?" Lily looked up at him.

"Yes. It accentuates your already amazing beauty," James said with a small smile.

Lily flushed again and tried to look into his eyes, but he looked at the ground instead, avoiding her gaze.

"I should…go…er…yes. I'll see you around," James stammered, turning around.

"James, I know there is a girl out there that is perfect for you, but I thought I'd made it clear that I don't…like you that way. I'm sorry if I've confused you recently. I honestly didn't mean to," Lily apologised, picking at her fingernails.

"No, I—I understand," said James, running his hand through his hair, his back still facing her.

"So can we just go back to…whatever we were before?" Lily asked hopefully.

James nodded quickly and walked through the door of the boy's dormitory. Peter and Sirius then ran up after him—Peter calling, "Prongs, wait up!"—only to be met with the slamming of a door.

Lily plopped down on the couch and fiddled with her necklace, a feeling of guilt spreading through her body; from the soles of her feet, to her stomach, to the back of her throat. She felt horrible. _You told him the truth. He should have listened to you after all these years, _she kept telling herself. She stared at the opal, the flashing colours winking at her. Lily felt additional weight on the couch and looked to see a very tired looking Remus sit down next to her.

"So….how are you?" asked Remus casually.

"Oh, fantastic," Lily said sarcastically. "This is turning out to be a horrible day."

"I know the feeling," said Remus solemnly.

"Why weren't you in Hogsmeade today?" asked Lily.

"I didn't feel very well. I decided it would be best to just stay here," Remus said immediately. Lily was sceptical but not particularly in the mood to play Twenty Questions with Remus.

They sat quietly for a while until Lily said, "He's just not my type, you know?"

Remus was silent.

"I mean, I told him the truth, which is good, right?" Lily continued, trying desperately to feel better about the situation.

"I think…that if you gave him a chance—" Remus started.

"Not you, too! Why can no one accept that I don't like him? That date today, that was nothing! It was just me getting a drink with Potter. I didn't like him then, and I don't like him now! If he wasn't so arrogant—"

"Guys can change, Lily. He's not nearly as—okay so he is still pretty full of himself, but he doesn't do it on purpose," said Remus.

"Oh, don't give me that! Just wait until Quidditch starts. His head will be inflated to an all-time high," said Lily.

"Lily, what has he ever done to you? And I don't mean others, I mean you personally," asked Remus.

Lily opened her mouth to speak but slowly closed it when she discovered she was lacking anything to say. "S-stuff," she stuttered, looking down at her lap.

"Lily, I don't believe in forcing you to have feelings for him. And believe me, he's asked me many times to try to convince you to—" said Remus.

"So now he's bringing his friends into this? How desperate can you be?" snorted Lily.

Remus frowned slightly and started to twiddle his thumbs, looking away from Lily's face. That familiar feeling of guilt crept through her again. _Insulting the boy who just gave you an amazing necklace? How low can you get, Lily? _She berated herself.

"He knows that we're…a little close. And he sometimes asks me to ask you if you're interested. I don't do it, of course, because it's not my place to do so. But he's really a great guy underneath the self-righteousness," insisted Remus slowly.

"But why must he be such a bully? I mean, just look at the way he treats Snape!" whispered Lily.

"Oh Lily, come on!" said Remus in an uncharacteristic tone of disbelief. "Stop acting as though Snape is the victim. They are equally nasty to one another. If James starts it one time, Snape starts it the next."

"So you're justifying James' immature behaviour?" asked Lily evenly.

"No, what I'm saying is that before you pass judgment on someone, get to know the real them. Isn't that what you're doing with Snape this year?" said Remus calmly.

"It's different!" insisted Lily. _And it seems to be over,_ she said to herself inwardly.

"No, not really," said Remus.

"Remus, I don't want to argue with you again," said Lily calmly. "But I can safely say that there will never be romance between James and I. I'm sorry. I know he's one of your best mates, but…"

"Okay, Lily. As always, I will respect your decision, despite my thinking you are passing up a great thing," said Remus.

"Remus, there are hundreds of fish in the sea…unless James hexes them all," joked Lily. Remus chuckled. "Okay, I should go to detention now. I have to clean Flitwick's cupboard. Who knows what he has cluttered in there?"

**XXX**

James Potter was angry. No, angry would be an understatement. Furious would much better describe how James felt. He entered his dorm and slammed the door forcefully behind him, not caring that Frank was in the room, most likely reading behind his shut curtains. James heard him sigh audibly and mutter a silencing spell around his bed, knowing that there would be a lot of noise for a while.

James kicked books thrown around the floor and stupidly kicked his trunk.

"Fucking bleedin' Merlin's balls!" yelled James, hopping on one foot and nursing his stubbed toe.

Peter and Sirius then entered the room, closing the door behind them.

"James, it's alright," said Peter.

"SHUT THE HELL UP! IT'S NOT ALRIGHT!" James roared.

"Mate, she's not worth all this!" Sirius insisted.

"You're wrong! She is! You have no idea how this feels!" James yelled. His face was red, veins throbbing along his neck.

"James, we're trying to help you—" Peter started.

"Rejection after rejection," interrupted James. "Since our third year! Finally when things are looking up, I'm rejected again!"

"This is exactly our point, you idiot!" Sirius retorted. "Read my lips: She. Is. Not. Worth. It. Move on, James! She brings you nothing but disappointment!"

James' face returned to its normal colour and his breathing regulated. Sirius was panting while Peter sat on his bed.

"Fuck," James breathed and collapsed on his four-poster bed. Though the pillows were fluffed and the sheets were toasty, he felt uncomfortable and cold. "Why?"

"Why what?" said Peter.

"Why am I such an idiot?" James scoffed coldly. "Thinking she'd fall for me…because of jewellery! I must be the biggest prat this side of the Atlantic."

Sirius chuckled and sat in a large chair by the door. "Prat is an understatement."

**XXX**

The next day was rather uneventful, which Lily was thankful for. She felt much better than the day before; maybe it was the fact that it was Halloween and the Great Hall was decked out with glowing pumpkins, spiders and their webs, bats, and oodles of candy (which even Lily couldn't pass up, even after eating half her Honeydukes candy the night before).

That afternoon, while in the dorm with her friends, Lily found time to reread a letter from her mother which she received that morning.

_Dear Lily,_

_Your father and I hope school is going well for you so far! We have interesting news about 'Tunia. She has found a boyfriend named Vernon Dursley. He works part-time at a drilling factory and must make a fair amount of money, since he's taken 'Pet out to some fancy Italian restaurant in London. He's even stopped by a couple times to pick her up. Your father doesn't particularly like the man, but I told him to give him a chance. However, that was before I started to dislike him myself. But as long as Petunia is happy, I suppose that is all that matters. She's a woman now and we can't prevent her from dating a man she fancies (despite what your father thinks). _

_Enough about us, though. Are your classes getting better? What is in the news over there? Are things getting worse? Do you have any new friends? _

_Behave and make us proud,_

_Mum_

Lily's friends were lying around on their beds, bored and wondering what to do until dinner.

"We could watch the Marauders act stupid," suggested Marlene.

"Since when do you like the Marauders so much, Marlene?" asked Alice teasingly.

"Do you like one of them?" asked Emmeline suspiciously.

"I don't like Remus, if that's what you're afraid of," Marlene drawled.

"How did…I mean…wait...what?" Emmeline stuttered.

"Oh please Emmeline, your crush on Remus is nearly as obvious as James' crush on Lily," said Marlene.

"Am I really that obvious?" asked Emmeline.

"Yes," said the girls.

"We could always try on Lily's Muggle clothes. Is that alright, Lily?" asked Alice.

"Have a ball. I'm going to the common room. Just make sure you put my clothes back afterwards," said Lily, and she descended the stairs to the common room. She smiled inwardly at how much her friends loved dressing in Muggle garb and, especially when they were younger, begged her to let them try on some of her stuff, despite the fact that they were different sizes.

Lily walked towards the window and pulled the drapes aside, watching the slowly setting sun. Birds were flying in the distance and the clear sky showed gradients of bright pink, light orange, and dark blue. The close proximity to the window made her feel warm and she closed her eyes lightly, just enjoying the feeling. The bliss was interrupted, however, by a soft, "Hey."

Lily jumped and her eyes shot open to see the one person she really didn't want to see, James.

"Potter, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Lily said harshly, her hand clutched over the left side of her chest.

"Sorry," James said with a dopey smile. "Why are you over here behind the drapes?"

"I dunno, maybe because I want to?" Lily shrugged.

"Oh…" James said. "Er—still wearing the necklace, eh?"

Lily looked down. "Yes, well, it's very beautiful."

"Yeah…" James said. He began to pull a loose thread from the drapes and look out the window with her. "Whatcha looking at?"

"The sky," Lily said dreamily. "Watching it change colours."

"Cool," James said lightly.

There was silence between the two momentarily. "You look…nice today," James said.

Lily looked down at herself. "Jeans and a purple T-shirt, James," she chortled.

"You still look nice," James said.

Lily smiled slightly, hoping that he wasn't trying to flirt with her. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked out the window again. Along the horizon the sky was a deeper shade of orange and pink and everywhere else was a deep indigo. She glanced at James, whose glasses reflected from the sun outside and his hair stuck up in the back; a slight frown on his face, which made him look serious, mature; a side of him she had never seen before. She realised she was staring and quickly turned away.

"We—I should probably get the girls to the Great Hall for the feast," Lily said, and walked back to her dorm.

Lily and her friends walked down to the Great Hall and Lily wasn't disappointed: Thousands of bats flew overhead and about a hundred jack-o'-lanterns hovered above the tables. Halloween was always exciting for her, especially in the wizarding world. After the hall was full, the food appeared on the table and the room was abuzz. Lily began to drink her warm pumpkin juice and looked around the hall, her eyes falling upon the Slytherin table. Without thinking, she searched for Severus and she spotted him chuckling lightly, something that she very rarely saw him do. He looked up, his eyes fell in her direction, and he immediately stopped laughing. She just looked him in the eye coolly over her cup, surreptitiously wanting to look mysterious. He looked at her blankly for some time before Nott hit him on the shoulder and began to converse with him.

_Why did I just do that? _she thought. Confused by her own behaviour, Lily didn't look at Severus or the Slytherin table for the rest of the feast.

* * *

A/N 2: I'm not the type to say "If I don't get 10 reviews then I won't update". I'm not greedy and I'm not an idiot (last time I checked). For me reviews help motivate me and when there is constructive criticism, it helps me find out what I should work on. In short, review if you want. Next update will be out ASAP. 


	10. Study Partners

Disclaimer: Er—yes, I don't own anything.

A/N: Its been long enough hasn't it. Erm, anyways, hope you enjoy it. :)

_**X Study Partners**_

"Now, who can tell me what occurs when sliced wormwood mixes with essence of mimbletonia in a simmering concoction of water, snake venom, and mulberry pulp?" asked Slughorn.

Severus sighed and lazily raised his hand in the air, still holding on to his grey feather quill.

"Ah yes, Miss Evans?" said Slughorn.

Severus looked across the room to see Lily sitting straight up on her stool. "The potion will sizzle and blue foam will rise slightly. If one doesn't add mayapple leaves within ten seconds of adding the wormwood or essence, the potion may be ruined," Lily recited matter-of-factly.

"I believe it's within five seconds, Professor," Severus drawled, more to Lily than Professor Slughorn.

Lily turned to Severus with a blasé look. A smug smile spread across Severus' face until…

"No, Miss Evans is correct," informed Slughorn.

Severus' smile fell.

"It is within ten seconds, though the idea of five seconds has been thought of as truth until about a decade ago; there was a big commotion about it too…" Slughorn said.

"That's stupid. Who cares about a five-second difference?" piped up a Ravenclaw boy, Philip.

As Slughorn rambled about the significance five seconds could have when it came to potion-making, Severus turned to look in Lily's direction again to see her whispering to Alice. They hadn't spoken in two weeks. They ignored each other in prefect meetings; Slughorn had changed the seating plan so they no longer shared a desk in Potions; and if they happened to run into one another, no words were exchanged. Though dim, the light reflected off the surface of that damned necklace of hers, which she seemed to wear every day now, causing multi-coloured highlights to glitter on the stone wall next to her. He was somewhat curious about where she acquired such a fine piece of jewellery, but didn't feel it very important. He knew that underneath her cool exterior, she wanted to talk to him. _Must be my dashing good looks, _he thought with a chuckle.

"Is something funny, Mr. Snape?" Slughorn asked.

Severus cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, Professor. I was clearing my throat. It won't happen again. You may continue with your lecture."

Slughorn accepted his excuse with a nod and began to go on about the importance of time in potions. Severus heard Sirius whisper, rather loudly, in the ear of the girl next to him.

"—Fucking suck-up if you ask me—" said Sirius, while the raven-haired Hufflepuff next to him giggled. Sirius then glanced in Severus' direction with a nasty smile.

_Oh, I'm sure you'll find_ this_ rather funny as well,_ he thought. Severus discreetly pulled out his wand and nonverbally charmed Sirius' stool to lean slightly to the left. Sirius tried to regain his balance on the stool but it soon toppled over completely on its side, taking Sirius along with it.

The entire class, except for James and Slughorn, laughed up a storm. Severus looked at the opposite side of the room and saw even Lily laughing, with her hand hovering over her mouth.

"Settle down! Settle down! Get up, Mr. Black!" yelled Slughorn, desperately trying to regain composure in the class.

Sirius stood up and lifted his chair upright. A slight blush could be seen on his cheeks as the giggling subsided and he sat on his chair again.

"Now, as I was saying, a matter of seconds—" started Slughorn, but Severus, for a second time, took out his wand and incanted the same charm; and again, sending Sirius and the stool toppling over. The laughter was much louder this time and Severus could have sworn that even Slughorn was trying not to smile.

"Okay, settle down, settle down. Mr. Black, please stop leaning on your stool."

Sirius was panting heavily. "IT WASN'T ME! I WASN'T LEANING!" He looked wildly around the class and when his eyes landed on Severus he pointed and said, "Him! It was _him!"_

Severus looked at Sirius with a surprised look on his face, "Me? I wouldn't do that to you when Slughorn is giving such a fascinating lecture."

"Bollocks!" growled Sirius.

"Now, now, Mr. Black. There is no need for bad language. You shouldn't blame others on your bad habits with stools," scolded Slughorn. "Now take your seat and don't lean."

Sirius glared at Severus before lifting his stool and sitting on it. Severus took out his wand and this time made the stool only lean to the left ever so slightly. That was all it took for Sirius to loudly fumble with his hands and get a vice-like grip on the table. A few students chuckled while Sirius breathed heavily.

"Are you done, Mr. Black?" asked Slughorn with a sigh.

Sirius nodded and Slughorn continued on to what they would brew that day, while Severus was trying with all of his might not to smile.

**XXX**

"—Because I really like him, and I mean _'like him,_ like him', but I'm afraid that if I ask him out and he doesn't like me like me our friendship would be ruined," rambled Alice while she and Lily brewed their antidotes. Their assignment was rather simple, making it easy to concentrate on the potion and talk at the same time.

"Well, do you think he likes you back?" Lily asked quietly.

Alice sighed. "I'm not sure." She looked across the room and watched as Frank Longbottom helping a petite Ravenclaw in the back of the room. "He's so helpful, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is very charming," Lily answered distractedly, adding moonstone to the black, bubbling potion. Though she cared about Alice and her ever-developing crush on Frank, she had her own problems. After rejecting James for the umpteenth time, he had seemed rather distant, merely waving or smiling at her when it was appropriate. Lily even believed his obnoxious ways had abruptly ended for good. However, she had thought wrong. His mannerism only lasted a week until he began showing off in front of her again. Quidditch season started, which meant practises, which meant Lily and her friends watching Marlene when they had nothing better to do, which ultimately meant seeing Potter…often. She had to admit, he was an amazing Quidditch player, and it didn't hurt his physique; in fact, Lily thought he was a bit fit. James flirting with her shirtless after practises would even be quite a treat to the eyes if he didn't always talk about himself and Quidditch.

"My father knows one of the Beaters of the Tornados personally," he said earlier that week after a particularly boring Quidditch practise. "I even have an autograph and flew around with him a couple summers ago,"

"Great," Lily would say, and then attempt to reach the library as soon as possible—it was a part of Hogwarts that James seemed to be allergic to.

"He seemed kind of shy when he asked me how Hogsmeade went for me. Does that mean anything?" asked Alice, adding a pinch of daisy roots to her potion, causing it to fizz violently, but die down rather quickly.

"Maybe," Lily shrugged.

"Enough about me, has Potter given you any more trouble?" said Alice.

Lily rolled her eyes. "If by trouble you mean trying to impress me with his stupid Quidditch skills, then yes, he's given me a lot of trouble. I thought I actually got through to him this time; you weren't there, but he was really upset."

"Poor bloke," Alice mumbled.

Lily's eyes went wide with disbelief. "What?"

"Lily, concentrate on your potion," Alice said promptly, obviously trying to distract her friend from ranting. It didn't work.

"Screw the potion," Lily hissed. "How can you feel sorry for him?"

"You honestly feel no guilt?" asked Alice.

Lily wanted to respond with a resounding 'No' but Alice had hit a nerve. Lily _did_ feel guilty, but fed up to boot. She honestly didn't know what to feel. One moment he flattered the hell out of her, the next she wanted to hit him over the head with a cauldron. He usually led her to crave the latter, but the former seemed to occur more and more often.

"No," Lily lied.

**XXX**

Severus usually skipped lunch, but talking to Nott tended to get one to lose track of what they were doing. He bit into and apple, and he and Nott greeted Evan, Wilkes, and Narcissa. To his displeasure, Amelia Bulstrode and Reina Gulmturmble joined as well.

"Hello Severus, Demetrius," said Narcissa pleasantly, a copy of _Witch Rage _in her hand. The witch on the cover wore a short, light blue, plaid robe showing much skin and posed in various positions.

Demetrius whistled and grabbed the magazine out of Narcissa's hands. "Who's that?"

"Natasha De La Gouge," said Reina approvingly. "Fabulous model from France."

"Hon, hon, hon," Wilkes said, performing a stereotypical French laugh. Wilkes laughed; Severus and Narcissa rolled their eyes.

"Very funny, Oleander," said Narcissa scathingly.

Wilkes growled and folded his arms across his chest, his pout resembling the look of a five-year-old boy stuck with the pink crayon rather than the blue.

"Oi, Severus. Even you have to admit this Natasha is really something," said Demetrius, shoving the magazine at him.

Severus reluctantly took the magazine and frowned at it. "She's trashy," Severus said.

"And?" said Demetrius, Evan, and Wilkes in chorus.

The girls giggled as Severus looked through the magazine, a scene that would make any onlooker in the Great Hall rather puzzled.

The magazine was suddenly snatched from his hands. "Well, well, well. Snivellus looking through a women's magazine?" James sneered from behind him, along with Sirius, Peter, and Remus.

Severus stood up and faced James, his black eyes narrowed.

"Leave, all of you, now," growled Severus. He inwardly wanted his "friends" to back him up, but knew that was far too much to ask for.

"I'm shaking in my boots, Snape," Sirius laughed, brushing his perfect hair out of his eyes.

"You mean boots your mum gave you before she kicked your arse out of your home," said Narcissa with a toothy grin.

"Shut up, Narcissa," Sirius snapped.

"Now back to this lovely magazine," started James. "What are you gonna do with it, Snivellus? Wank off with it before class?"

The Marauders laughed, but were silenced when Severus pulled out his wand. James, as well as Sirius took out theirs as well, but before any of the boys could perform a hex, Bellatrix Black strode over to the table.

"I'm assuming there isn't any trouble here, boys," said Bellatrix silkily, breaking the boys up with her mere presence.

"No, no trouble here," Sirius glowered.

Bellatrix smiled wickedly before turning to the Marauders, all of whom glared at her. Her eyes then saw the magazine in James' hand and she simpered. "Since when are you interested in women's fashion, Potter?"

"It's not mine!" James barked, throwing the magazine at Severus' chest.

"What's going on over here?" said a soft voice.

Lily Evans stood curiously by the Marauders with her hands on her hips.

Bellatrix sniffed. "Nothing that the _Head Girl_ can't handle, Evans."

Lily glanced at Severus, did a double-take at the magazine in his hand, and merely looked him in the eye, her eyebrow raised.

"Didn't you hear me?" Bellatrix snapped. "Nothing is going on. You boys, go back to the Gryffindor table immediately before I start giving out detentions. Evans, you stay here."

The Marauders walked back to the Gryffindor table though Sirius quickly flipped off Bellatrix before doing so. Lily stayed back, putting on a brave face.

"Evans, you may want to button up your shirt a bit more. Much too much skin is showing," Bellatrix said and looked as though she just smelled something disgusting.

Lily's mouth was agape. "Your shirt is buttoned up the same as mine! That's not fair!"

"Again, you seem to be underestimating my position as—" Bellatrix pointed to her shiny badge, "—Head Girl. I have more authority than some lowly prefect, so what I say about your attire goes."

"In case you haven't noticed, you don't run this school; unless you very recently shaved off your beard and dyed your hair black, Professor Dumbledore," Lily sneered.

"Do as I say, Evans, or you'll have _more_ than a month's worth of detention," Bellatrix whispered with finality.

Lily angrily buttoned up her shirt and started to walk over towards the Gryffindor table, when Evan intervened.

"Don't listen to her! You're no fun to look at without your shirt like that!" Evan said.

Wilkes got a kick out of Evan's comment, though Severus had a hard time finding the humour in what was said. Lily quickly turned heel and stomped over to the Gryffindor table.

Many students from other tables noticed the conflict was over, and got back to conversing with their friends.

Bellatrix shook her head. "That Evans girl makes me sick just looking at her."

"We agree, sis," said Narcissa gesturing towards Amelia and Reina, who nodded feverishly.

"Good, at least _some_ people do," Bellatrix said reproachfully to the boys at the table, her gaze lingering on Evan.

"What?" asked Evan when he noticed Bellatrix's heavily lidded eyes land on him. "I'm just giving Evans a bit of advice. Can't hurt, right?"

Severus shoved the magazine in Narcissa's direction of and ate the rest of his lunch listening to them discuss trivial matters until the bell rang.

**XXX**

_Disgusting little tosser that Rosier is, _Lily thought as she walked into the library, hoping to have some time to herself. To her surprise, the library was quite crowded. She noticed many fifth-years and looked at Madame Pince, who was sitting tensely behind her desk, perplexed.

"Some accident while the fifth-years were in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Elroy was accidentally cursed by one of her students and is in the hospital wing. The class was told to come here," Madame Pince said, without Lily having to ask.

Lily tried not to smile at the thought of Elroy being cursed and moved on to find a table. She finally found a nook with a small table in the Charms section. Charms was always her favourite subject. She remembered before her first year when she went to Ollivander's, anxious yet excited to purchase her wand…

_"Try this one out, dear. Willow and rather swishy. Ten and a quarter inches long," said Ollivander._

_Lily hesitantly held the wand in her hand and felt a rush of energy. Green and white sparks shot out of the wand's end, startling her._

_"Ah, very rarely does a student find their perfect match on their first try! Very nice wand choice, my dear. Perfect for charms, absolutely perfect for charms," he mumbled dreamily._

Her thoughts returned to the present and she decided to sift through the nearest Charms book. Though she knew she should be doing her DADA work, _Marvellous Glamour Charms_ distracted her.

"Well, well, well," said a drawl catching her attention. Severus leaned against a nearby shelf, casually looking at his fingernails. "Brushing up on some more potion facts so you can be an even bigger teacher's pet?"

"In the Charms section?" Lily retorted evenly.

He did not have a comeback so he instead stayed in his place, looking around the library at the books zooming by and placing themselves in their appropriate spaces.

"What, were you jealous that I stated a fact that you didn't know?" asked Lily with an accomplished smirk.

"I don't get jealous," Severus replied indifferently, though his slight look of disdain told her differently.

"Everyone gets jealous once in a while, Snape," Lily replied. "Unfortunately it is in our nature."

"Not me, and especially not of someone like you," Severus snapped.

"Why are you here?" Lily asked calmly.

"I'm looking for a book for Charms, if you must know," Severus said, and searched the nearby shelves until he found a satisfactory book. "And because the library is quite crowded today as I'm sure you've noticed…" Severus muttered, giving her a sideways glance. "I was wondering if I could…read here."

"Wow, you must be desperate," Lily said.

"Well it's either you or a bunch of fifth-years," Severus said offhandedly.

"Oh, I'm honoured," Lily snorted. "Yes, you may sit here."

Severus sat in the chair across from her and read his book silently. She looked up from her book and observed the boy across from her. He must have sensed her stare and raised his eyes to meet hers. They say the eyes are the window to one's soul, but when he looked at her, she saw very little. He was guarded, very guarded, and his eyes looked dead at first glance. However, Lily noticed that if she looked a little further, you could see the slightest gleam of verve.

"What?" Severus asked curtly.

"Get your hair out of your face," Lily demanded.

He looked appalled. "Who are you, my mother?"

"No, just a girl giving you some advice, but if your mum says that too, I must have the right idea. You can barely see your face with your hair hanging like curtains," Lily said smartly.

"I don't need your advice," Severus grumbled.

He returned to the book, flipping through pages. There was a heavy silence around them before Lily's conscience got the best of her.

"Sorry for calling you a loser a couple weeks ago," Lily said suddenly.

Severus remained quiet, not looking up from the large tome. Lily nibbled her lower lip nervously and sighed.

"It was really immature of me," she added. "And it was a pretty low blow, I suppose…"

Severus glanced at the auburn-haired girl across from him. "S'alright," he mumbled.

"Snape…I really don't want another enemy in Slytherin and…I'd really like to get to know you better," Lily said.

An exasperated look appeared on his face, "Well, to be honest, I have no interest in getting to know you better."

"I—I know, but…look, can we at least be study partners?" Lily suggested.

"You still want to be my study partner?" Severus asked tersely.

"Yes," Lily said shortly.

Severus sighed loudly, which must have somehow alerted Madame Pince because her long, pallid form emerged from around the corner. "You two! Hush up. It's loud enough as it is with so many people in here!" she hissed, and slunk back around the corner.

"That woman is round the bend!" Lily whispered. "She is absolutely frightening sometimes."

"She's just strict," Severus defended.

"Believe what you like, I think the woman is mad," Lily said. "Anyway…"

"Fine, Evans," Severus sighed, exasperated. "We can be study partners."

"Great! I mean, because we have nearly every class together, that includes some frees and I really find it hard to study with my friends because they can really distracting and—" Lily babbled, her eyes practically glowing.

"Get a bloody grip, Evans, before Madame Pince throws us out," Severus spat quietly.

"Sorry," Lily whispered, looking around nervously.

"We'll start tomorrow after classes are through. And I don't want anyone knowing about this," Severus told her, his face displaying the utmost seriousness.

"Why not?" Lily asked.

"Because, I have a reputation to uphold," Severus answered in a self-aggrandizing way. "If certain people in my house got word that I'm studying with…_you,_ they'd be rather…"

"Upset, deceived, revolted," Lily helped.

"Essentially, yes," Severus agreed.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I don't think anyone of my friends should find out either," Lily said. "They'd be highly suspicious of someone like you."

"Someone like me?" Severus asked curiously.

"Well, you know. The stuff they say about you and the Dark Arts…even if they are just rumours, most of my house looks down upon that kind of stuff," Lily said. "In fact, they despise the mere thought of it. You should hear the way Potter rants on about it…"

"Am I making a name for myself?" Severus asked in a careless tone, but she knew he was actually quite inquisitive.

"Besides Snape, Snivellus, greasy git, arse, mother—"

"Yes, besides those," Severus interrupted.

Lily giggled. "No, that's about it."

There was an awkward silence. Lily bit her lower lip nervously while Severus tapped his fingers along the table before speaking abruptly.

"May I remind you that this is solely school-oriented?"

"I didn't forget," Lily said.

"No friendly waves in the corridors or actions of acknowledgement," said Severus.

"It'll be like I don't even know you," Lily promised.

"Good."

"Good."

Severus broke another awkward silence once more.

"How did you get that necklace?" Severus inquired suddenly, looking at the pictures in the charms book.

"Oh," Lily said, toying with the necklace. "Potter gave it too me as a gift." Lily noticed his eyes narrow slightly. "He wanted me to feel better after something that happened on our Hogsmeade date because we were impolitely interrupted by—"

"I already know what happened," Severus cut in when she was going to explain what occurred.

"Well, he gave me this gorgeous opal necklace. He may be a pain, but he sure knows jewellery," Lily said fondly.

"You know, I've heard that there is a well-known opal necklace that was cursed sometime in the eighteenth century," Severus said, tucking a piece of hair behind his ear.

"Oh?" Lily said, looking at her necklace as though it just said something confusing.

"Yes, nineteen Muggles died from it. I suppose that is where they derived the idea that opal was bad luck," Severus said.

"You know about that superstition?" Lily asked.

"Um, I just happen to know that one. I read it in a book in my first year," Severus said steadily.

"Hm…well is there any way to tell whether or not this necklace is cursed or not?" Lily asked.

"Well, if it was the cursed necklace then you would have been dead the moment you touched it with your bare hands," Severus said flatly.

"Well, I suppose this is a different necklace," Lily chuckled. Severus continued to read.

Lily looked at her watch and nearly fell out of her chair. "I have to go!" she gasped, grabbing her satchel and placing _Marvellous Glamour Charms _in its proper spot on the shelf next to her. "I promised Emmeline I'd help her with something before class. I'll see you later, I guess?"

She didn't wait for a reply, and hurried out of the library. However, she doubted Snape would have said goodbye anyway.

**XXX**

Lily Evans was an odd girl. Though he wouldn't reveal this to anyone at wand-point, he believed studying with her would be productive under the right circumstances. They were both among the top of the sixth-year students, and she always seemed rather knowledgeable when it came to Charms, and even Potions.

"Excuse me?" said a squeaky voice. Severus turned around towards the end of the aisle and saw a very small fifth-year girl dragging an angry-looking seventh-year boy behind her (he assumed they were siblings). Severus' frown became deeper and deeper with every step the girl took before she stopped dead in front of him, her brother looking at her as though he wanted to throw her off the North tower.

"Are you dating that girl that just left?" the girl asked bluntly.

"No," Severus said curtly, though he was very surprised to be asked such a question.

"Okay, good. Because my brother," she said, gesturing to the tall, livid boy, "wants to ask her to the ball. So now that we have that all figured out…thanks."

The bold girl tugged on her brother's arm but he managed to twist his neck around. "Jus' for the record, I didn't ask her to ask you about this. It was all her—"

"Come on, Kurtus! You said you'd help me with my Divination work!" the girl whined.

"Shut up, Mellona!" he said, then turned back to Severus. "Little sisters, you know?"

"No, I don't," Severus said.

Mellona finally got a good enough grip on her brother's arm and hauled him away.

Severus shook his head of the ridiculous question asked to him. All they were doing was talking. How is that romantic in the slightest?

_Note to self, _he thought. _Try to avoid the library at all costs. The dungeons are better suited for any form of studying. Fewer thickheaded Neanderthals to approach me._

Severus stepped out of the cosy nook in which he had stayed during most of the period, and headed toward the door as the bell rang, causing Madame Pince to cringe, not complimenting her features in the slightest.

As Severus descended the stairs, he groaned at the thought of having to walk to the other side of the castle to Charms.

Severus was only a corridor or two away when the Hogwarts poltergeist, Peeves, decided it would be the appropriate time to pester him.

_"Snapey, Snapey, Snapey, running mighty latey!" _Peeves cackled.

"Shut up," snapped Snape.

_"Oooh, the plant without sun is in a baaaaaaaad mood!" _said Peeves.

"Leave me alone," said Snape tiredly..

The poltergeist just hooted merrily and out of nowhere, threw a water balloon at Severus.

_"Well at least the plant has some water now!" _Peeves shouted.

Severus growled and performed the drying charm, growing frustrated at his increasing tardiness.

"Mr. Snape, you're late," said Professor Flitwick.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I was held up," explained Snape politely.

"Well the good news is, you didn't miss anything," said Flitwick excitedly. "Now have a seat next to Provirus and pay attention."

Despite Flitwick's excitement about the new charm they were learning, the excitement didn't seem to spread to the students…except for Lily, who Severus noticed was all ears. She scribbled her notes down in a blur and stuck the edge of her blue quill between her lips when she was concentrating especially hard, making her look incredibly naïve. Severus prided himself in being exceedingly observant, and though they were usually insignificant, the behaviour of his fellow students usually kept him distracted when he was bored—though, at other times, he wouldn't give the majority of them the time of day. Severus heard snickering behind him and turned around to see James and Sirius passing notes while Remus rolled his eyes and Peter seemed keen to read what they were writing. Severus gave them a look of disgust (Sirius heartily returned his look with a friendly hand gesture). The sound of crumbling caught Flitwick's attention.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Black, passing notes, it seems? You know the rules, boys. Read it aloud," said Flitwick, looking disappointed at their lack of concentration.

"Aw, come on, Professor. Let it pass this once?" asked James with his most charming smile.

Flitwick sighed and waved his small finger. "Alright, Mr. Potter, but hush up back there or I'll have to move you next to Stebbins."

Severus narrowed his eyes at his page of notes. Of course Potter would get off for fooling around in class. _He can charm his way through school. _

The boring lecture finally ended and the students partnered up to practice their singing charms to be performed on inanimate objects. He looked across the room to see Evan walking towards him in a cool manner.

"How do we move our wrist for this one?" said Evan.

"Sure, Evan. I'd love to be your partner," Severus said. Evan pulled out a chair and twisted his wand between his fingers.

Severus tried to help Rosier with the proper wrist flick for the charm, but Evan was proving to be rather difficult.

"You're horrible at teaching this stuff," said Rosier.

"You're just not trying," said Snape.

Suddenly an odd smile appeared on his face. "Oi, Evans!"

Lily whirled her head in Evan's direction and frowned before turning her attention back to Alice, ignoring him.

"Hey, Evans!" Rosier said again. Severus ceased his charm to look up at the situation at hand.

Lily looked at him. "What?" Lily said bluntly.

"You're good at charms, right?" Evan asked.

"Well, not to sound conceited, but yes, I'm quite good," Lily said. "Why?"

"Can you help me with this charm?" Evan asked casually.

"If I'm not mistaken, Snape is sitting right next to you," Lily pointed out.

"And?" Evan blinked.

"And, I believe he is quite good at charms as well," Lily said as though talking to a five-year-old.

Evan glanced at Severus and turned back to the Lily. "Yes, but you have so much expertise," Evan said, nearly batting his eyes at her. Severus' lip curled but tried to ignore his lack of tact.

Lily sighed and walked over towards Rosier and Severus' table. "You see this right here?" Lily asked, bending over and pointing to the text of Evan's open Charms book. "It says it all right there. You want to sort of swish then jab, like this." Lily demonstrated the wrist movement with ease.

"Oh," Evan said.

"Do you still need help?" Lily asked tiredly, standing straight up again.

"No, you made it so much easier," Evan smiled. Lily screwed up her face and walked back to her table, Evan watching her walk away with an iniquitous leer.

"They don't make many girls like her around here," Evan said, staring at Evan's backside.

"You're disgusting," said Severus, rubbing his wrist idly.

"And you're blind to what is right in front of you," argued Rosier.

Severus looked up to make sure Flitwick wasn't paying attention to them, and he wasn't. Charms was usually a safe class to converse.

"I believe I've said this before. She's pretty, I suppose," said Snape

"Pretty? Severus, we aren't eleven anymore, and you'll be of age in a matter of months. It's time to separate the 'pretty' girls from the…extremely tantalizing women," Evan said slyly, leaning back coolly in his chair.

Severus narrowed his eyes at Evan. "Are you suggesting that I'm juvenile?"

"Good, so you understood what I was saying," Evan nodded.

Severus went back to making the teacup in front of him sing up a scale in a soft but incredibly wheezy voice.

"So, excited about the game coming up?" Evan asked.

"No, not really," Severus said.

"You know it's against Gryffindor, right?" said Evan.

"Yes, I do tend to read the bulletin board, Evan," Severus said unenthusiastically.

"Well, it should be an interesting game and season; especially since I'm the new Chaser," said Evan.

"Gonna give Potter a good beating?" Severus whispered with a smile.

"I hope so," Evan said.

Flitwick came to their table to check up on how their charm was coming along. After Severus performed it, Flitwick smiled. "Very nice work."

"Thank you, sir," said Severus.

"Now, let's see you, Mr. Rosier," Flitwick said, obviously expecting the same excellence.

Rosier flicked his wrist in an odd angle, causing the teacup to fly across the room. "Hm, needs some more work, I think…" said Flitwick.

He then went over to Lily and Marlene. Marlene did fairly well but Lily made the cup sing flawlessly, though her cup sang incredibly off key. Flitwick clapped and praised her fully. "Perfect form, fabulous form!"

"Thank you, Professor," Lily smiled.

"Mr. Rosier! Would you come over here, please?" Flitwick called. Evan stood up and walked over to Lily and Flitwick.

"Mr. Rosier, it's apparent that your Charms work hasn't been…up to par recently. Perhaps Miss Evans can help you with your Charms work outside of class today so you can keep up with this lesson. Would you two be up to it?" asked Flitwick.

Lily's eyes grew wide and Evan smiled innocently. "I'd love to get some help," he said.

"Miss Evans?" squeaked Flitwick, looking at Lily expectantly.

"Er, s-sure, Professor Flitwick," Lily said quietly, though the look of discontent clearly showed.

"Fabulous. You two may want to start soon; Mr. Rosier needs a lot of work," said Flitwick, who then left to help Zingra with her charm.

"Oh, what my father would say? A Mudblood helping me with magic? I'm sure this will be…enjoyable," Evan said and returned to his table.

"You're quite the Casanova, aren't you?" Severus said.

"I just hope she keeps her shirt that way," said Evan.

"Do you honestly think she is going to tolerate someone like you?" asked Severus.

"Who wouldn't?" said Rosier with an amused smile.

"Anyone with half a brain," returned Severus.

**XXX**

Helping Evan Rosier study was a worse punishment than writing lines every night in McGonagall's office. He didn't need help, he understood the charm perfectly. All he wanted was for her to waste her valuable time, and perhaps bend over a few times so he could look up her skirt. Oh, she knew why he wanted her help after he asked her to pick up his teacup for the third time. Lily eventually told him to piss off and stormed out of the room to meet Professor Vector for her detention of the night: organising every single numerology chart and alphabetising his books. The task took her nearly two hours, and by the time she got the common room it was eleven-thirty at night—and she still had work to do.

She sighed and sat on the couch by the fireplace and pulled out _Flesh-Eating Trees of the World_, parchment, and her favourite blue quill. She thought she heard the portrait hole open, but when she turned around, nobody was there. After a few minutes of quiet, she had the eerie sensation that someone was watching her. She turned around again and nearly screamed.

"Pumpkin pasty?" said James Potter, crumbs falling through his lips.

"Where did you get that?" Lily asked in a high pitched voice, her hand resting over her heart.

He gulped the snack. "I have my ways."

"I'm hope these 'ways' aren't against the rules," Lily said dismissively and continued to thumb through the book. "Now, if you don't mind, Potter, I need to study and I already think I'm losing my mind. First thinking I heard the portrait hole open—"

James chuckled lightly. "Yeah…weird." Lily thought something was fishy but was too concentrated on her work to worry about James. "You look really tired, Evans," he said.

"Well after helping Rosier with Charms—" Lily started but immediately cursed herself for opening her mouth.

"You were helping who?" James intently.

"Nobody," Lily said quickly.

"No, you said you were helping Rosier, Evan Rosier, with Charms," James said. If she wasn't mistaken, James' eyes were fit to bust out of his sockets.

"It was nothing. I wouldn't help him after a while, though. I found out that he didn't even really need help," Lily insisted.

"What do you mean?" James snapped. Lily didn't respond but even that didn't prevent James from comprehending. "I always knew he was a pervert," James growled. Lily noticed that his face was steadily turning a light shade of ruby.

"Potter, I didn't even say anything!" Lily exclaimed.

"You didn't have to. I've seen the way he looks at you in class. I'm not blind," James said through gritted teeth.

"So now nobody can look at me except for you?" Lily challenged, though had no idea why she was defending Evan Rosier of all people.

"No!" James said as though it were as obvious and two plus two.

"We aren't talking about this," Lily said firmly.

"I'll snap that idiot in half this weekend. I guarantee it!" James said and began flexing his fingers and began to pacing back and forth.

"You see, this is exactly what I mean!" Lily yelled. James stopped pacing to look at the livid girl. "Always harming others in the name of Lily Evans. When will you grow up and realize that there are more important things to worry about?"

"I—I worry about important things," James faltered.

"Yeah, playing Quidditch, hexing people, your social standing as the 'coolest' guy in school, and food. Oh, what a list," Lily scoffed viciously. "I'm going to bed."

"Fine," James said evenly. "But you didn't finish your Herbology."

"Sod off!" Lily yelled, and collected her books and ran up to the girls' dormitory.

IMPORTANT A/N: So **JTfanaddict **is no longer able to beta for me due to time constraints and I am perfectly okay with that because I understand completely. I did, however, find a new beta on _Perfect Imagination_ named **Nom de Plume **who will be editing all the previous chapters, including this one, in due course. The bad news is no updates for a few weeks. The good news is that this fic will be better than ever after the edits are completed and I'm even thinking of a name change for the fic. I'm very pleased by how patient you all have been. Thanks!


	11. The Anima

A/N: Wow, its been, what, 2 months? But I'm back and should be more on track now. I'd like to announce that all previous chapters have been edited by my amazing beta **Nom De Plume**! So now all my chapters should be much more readable. Oh, almost forgot to point out the name change of the fic! Hope you all enjoy this chapter, guys and please review if you'd like to give me some suggestions, comments, or questions. I love to hear from my readers!

* * *

_**X The Anima**_

_Severus shakily got up from the wet grass and pulled his limp hair out of his eyes. It was foggy out, yet through the mist he could see a young woman. Her skin was fair and her hair was saffron yellow. She wore a very sheer, long, pearl-white robe which twinkled like the stars in the sky; her eyes were a dazzling sapphire. Barefoot, the woman walked towards Severus with a small smile on her face._

_"W—what…who are you?" he stuttered. "And where the hell am I?" _

_"Of course you wouldn't recognise this place…" she said. Her voice was soft, yet he could have sworn that her tone held a bit of audaciousness._

_"Why _would_ I recognise this place? This is a dream. I could be anywhere," he said. He didn't know why he was talking to the stranger with such rationality, but he couldn't find it in himself to be nasty towards her._

_"You've been here before," she said simply. "I believe you will be arriving momentarily."_

_Severus looked around for a moment to see if he recognised any of it. They were on a grassy hill and a large building could be seen about a hundred feet away. He reckoned it was a house. There was a great fig tree in the front of the home with low shrubs surrounding it. Ivy covered the old-fashioned house and a dirt road was seen leading up to it. Severus looked curiously at the young woman._

_"Who are you?" Severus asked with edge._

_"I? I am an Anima," she said majestically. Her walk was ethereal, as though she was walking in thin air._

_"An Anima?" Severus whispered._

_"Someone should brush up on their divination," she said._

_"I don't take that rubbish anymore," Severus said contemptuously and folded his arms across his chest. _

_The anima raised a flaxen brow and walked towards him. "Your pride is displeasing."_

_Severus opened his mouth but the Anima interrupted. "Say nothing."_

_He shut his mouth and glared at the beautiful young woman across from him. "Why are we here?"_

_"You'll see in a moment. Ah, here they are," she said softly and looked down the road. Through the fog, a "pop" was heard and a figure holding a small bundle was seen. _

_"Who is that?" Severus asked anxiously._

_"You don't recognise your own mother?" the Anima asked. _

_Severus was surprised to hear that his mother was in his dream and was curious when the figure began to walk fast in his direction._

_Eileen wore a long black hooded cloak; the bundle in her hands was wrapped in a dark cotton material. He wondered if his mother could see him, but was more curious as to why she was going to this old house. Thinking she would say something soon enough, Severus stood silently along the dirt road. He was caught short, however, when his mother walked right past him as though he wasn't there; her head bend low over the blanket._

_"Mother?" Severus called, but she kept walking closer to the house._

_"She can't hear you," said the Anima with an amused smile. _

_"Mum?" Severus called again, ignoring the Anima._

_"I said she can't hear you," she repeated._

_"Well why the hell not?" Severus asked._

_"Come with me," she ordered, walking purposefully up the road towards the home._

_Severus felt rather put out but hesitantly followed the beauty. They soon caught up with his mother, who knocked on the door quietly. Severus heard an odd whimper and his mother shush gently._

_He stood next to his mother and waved his hand in front of her face, but she didn't react. Instead she sighed heavily and knocked on the door again._

_Severus looked at the Anima. "Is this some sort of a joke?"_

_"No joke. Just wait," she said._

_This was one of the oddest experiences of his life. Despite the fact that he knew he was dreaming sensations of reality flowed through his veins. He became more worried when he suddenly believed the scenery looked vaguely familiar. He was brought out of his thoughts by the door to the home opening slightly._

_"Oooh, it's you, Missus Eileen," said a high-pitched voice. Severus looked down to see a small, brown-eyed house-elf. _

_"May I come in, Dolie?" said the voice that so clearly belonged to his mother._

_"Oh yes. Messer and Missus Prince are inside. Dolie thinks they've been expecting your visit," said Dolie. _

_Eileen walked inside the building, Severus and the Anima following her. They stood in a quaint foyer with applewood floor and chartreuse paint on the walls, giving the home an inviting yet elegant feel. To his far right and left were corridors leading to applewood doors. Severus looked up to see a high ceiling with a textured glass window letting the dim light of morning shine into the entrance hall. There were two grand stairways to his left and right, both ending on a single landing in which two more hallways and doors could be seen. Right in front of him was a short breezeway, which, though dark, was lit with a few small torches. _

_Eileen stood in the foyer quietly and took her hood off of her head, revealing long black hair and a vibrant, full face. She looked over a decade younger and her pallid cheeks were flushed with life. Another odd whimper was heard from the bundle in her arms and Eileen quickly unwrapped the blanket, exposing a baby—it was Severus. Despite how startled he was at seeing himself as a baby, he was also intrigued and walked closer to the babe. The infant's tuft of hair was inky black and he was now whining slightly._

_"Shh. Don't you want to meet Grandma and Grandpa?" she cooed. It seemed to calm the baby down because he stopped making noises and proceeded to stick his fingers in his mouth._

_"Ew, don't do that," Severus said quietly, with a look of disgusted fascination on his face._

_He looked at the Anima who smiled fondly at the scene. "Wait a second. This has happened before, hasn't it?" Severus said._

_The Anima nodded._

_"This…this is almost like a Pensieve," Severus said quietly._

_"Similar though they are, differences overshadow," she said._

_"Like what?" Severus asked._

_"Well, you _are_ dreaming," she said matter-of-factly._

_"Yes, and?" Severus said, glancing back at his mother and the baby._

_"And? There is a significant difference. When one goes into a Pensieve, they are in a conscious state. You, on the other hand, are in your personal unconscious," voiced the Anima. Severus had a look of confusion. "I thought you were smart."_

_"I am," Severus snapped._

_"Your assignment is to read up on Animas and personal unconsciousness," said the Anima tiredly._

_"What gives you the right to tell me what to read?" said Severus. "You're not real."_

_"Shh, shh, quiet," hushed the Anima. _

_"Messer and Missus Prince will see you now," said Dolie._

_Eileen walked through the dimly-lit breezeway and Severus and the Anima followed._

_They entered a large foreroom with the same applewood floor and green walls that graced the foyer. A tasteful seating area graced the living room: There was an elegant blue velvet sofa cut in curvy proportions and framed in a blackwashed wood finished with carved legs. On both sides of the sofa stood matching chairs and across from it, a matching armchair. In the middle of the seating arrangement was a wooden coffee table painted blue with china on it. What was more interesting than the set up of the room were the two people sitting on the sofa. An old man and woman sat beaming at Eileen._

_"Mum, Dad," she said happily and walked over to them._

_"Eileen, it's been far too long, darling," said the woman, who Severus assumed was his grandmother. The only resemblance Severus had to her was their lips; otherwise they looked like polar opposites: she had a light brown bob and light blue eyes._

_"Welcome home, pumpkin," said the old man, Severus' grandfather, who looked very similar to Eileen—both had dark brown hair, the same shaped eyes, and the same face shape. "And who is this fine young man?"_

_Eileen giggled and showed the baby off to her parents._

_"What is his name, darling?" asked his grandmother, tickling the baby's exposed skin._

_"Severus," said Eileen fondly._

_"My, isn't that a harsh name for a baby?" his grandfather asked gruffly._

_"I think it sounds lovely," Eileen defended and took a seat in the armchair. "Such a powerful name as well."_

_Severus never remembered seeing his mother's parents and was rather surprised to see them in such a wealthy home. He then grew angry._

_"Since when did my mother live in such a nice house?" Severus asked the Anima._

_"She was raised here," the Anima said._

_"I figured that much out," said Severus. "But if they're so wealthy, how come I have to settle for secondhand items? Shouldn't she have money left over from her parents?"_

_"Money brings out the worst in people, which you will see soon enough," said the Anima._

_"How is…your Muggle?" asked his grandmother sourly._

_"You mean my husband?" Eileen said quietly, combing her fingers through Severus' hair._

_"Spent all of your money yet?" grunted the grandfather, his eyes narrowed._

_"He didn't mean to do it that one time, Father," said Eileen. "He just got…carried away."_

_"Carried away, alright. Filthy Muggle spent half your money gambling, I reckon," he said._

_"Father! Th—that's not true," insisted Eileen._

_"I told you that you should have married your own kind," mumbled her mother._

_"Mum! I expected more from you!" said Eileen chided. "I love him and he loves me."_

_"I understand that, honey, but…what he did with your money is inexcusable," said Mrs. Prince._

_"And why are you living in that home in Yorkshire?" asked Mr. Price with a small look of disgust._

_"Because I wanted to live with him and he has lived in that particular area of Yorkshire all his life," said Eileen._

_"Have you told him yet?" asked Mrs. Prince._

_"Told him what?" said Eileen, albeit in a bit of a fidgety manner. Severus could tell she knew what her mother was talking about._

_"That you're a witch!" said Mr. Prince loudly, causing an almighty cough to course through him._

_"Um…no…not yet," said Eileen softly._

_"So, he's going to find out the hard way?" asked Mrs. Prince._

_"He will find out soon, Mother," said Eileen. Mrs. Price looked away and Mr. Prince was glaring intently at the table. "I just want to get settled now. I just had Severus a few months ago and we're already having rows. I want the timing to be perfect."_

_"Well, if that Muggle really cared about you and Severus, then a few rows wouldn't be a problem," said Mr. Prince. Dolie popped into sight and placed teacups filled with hot water, Earl Grey tea bags, milk, lemon, sugar, and biscuits on the blue coffee table. As each of the Princes fixed their tea as they preferred, a tense moment of silence fell. Severus turned to the Anima again._

_"Why is this significant?" Severus asked._

_"I thought you'd want to know what kind of people your mother's family were," said the Anima._

_"Well, they sense what kind of man my father is," said Severus darkly. His anger began to show and his face grew very warm. Impulsively, Severus stormed out of the room, through the front door._

_"Wait, where are you going?" asked the Anima._

_"Anywhere I can go so I can wake up. I can't believe her!" Severus said, kicking the dirt road._

_"She didn't know at the time, Severus," the Anima said soothingly._

_"Her own parents figured it out! He was already gambling and probably spending all his money on booze and cigarettes," Severus yelled. "She came from such a rich, _pure_ family and now we have so little that I can barely afford dress robes, let alone books! And she let it happen!"_

_Severus panted heavily and continued; he was on a role. "They didn't want her to marry a fucking Muggle, but what did she do? Marry that piece of trash! I…I could have been a pure-blood."_

_"You aren't proud to be a half-blood?" asked the Anima._

_"I'll get around to asking about how you know so much about me later, but…" Severus said through gritted teeth. "I'm not what you would call proud. Though I do find pleasure in the fact that I am much greater than some with the purest blood in England."_

_"Yet, you would be happier as a pure-blood?" the Anima said._

_"Of course," Severus replied harshly._

_The Anima took a deep breath and pushed her flowing blonde tresses from out of her face. "We shall meet again."_

_"Wait, you're going to just…leave?" Severus asked._

_"Yes. I believe I implied that by saying 'we shall meet again'. Honestly, for such an intelligent boy you can be quite dense," said the Anima._

_"Does this mean I can wake up now?" Severus asked._

_"Yes," said the Anima. A blinding white light suddenly obstructed his sight and he felt as though he was falling…_

Severus woke up with a gasp. He felt a cool sweat on his forehead and a familiar sound of snoring reached his ears. It was still night, and the rest of boys in his room were still sleeping. Though he had just woken up, his dream felt like a hazy memory now, and though he felt silly being pushed around by a figment of his unconscious state…he resolved that a visit to the library must be squeezed in tomorrow evening.

**XXX**

"So then he said that the Ministry should be run by salami. He considered them more competent than the current administration. So I told him to hold a petition for the immediate removal of the Minister and suggest salami or other meat products instead. The sad part is that I think he is really going through with it," said Remus. Lily shook her head and giggled; the ideas Sirius Black comes up with never ceased to amaze her.

"Well, to tell you the truth, Sirius may be on to something," Lily said lowly.

"I know what you mean," said Remus seriously.

The two decided to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch practise (which took place earlier than usual that day) and walked over to the Quidditch Pitch. Flying streaks of red and gold were seen in the distance.

"Oi! Wait up!" said a carrying voice behind them. They turned and—speak of the Devil—saw Sirius Black running toward them with a piece of parchment in his hand.

"Hey Moony," said Sirius. "Evans."

"Black," nodded Lily.

Sirius rested his forearm on Remus' shoulder, "Okay, how does this sound? 'The current authorities at the Ministry of Magic are not giving the British citizens of the wizarding community the protection they need to feel safe and secure. That is why we suggest the use of salami to control the Ministry of Magic. Salami are not only tasty, but, if under the proper charm, could surely give the current administration a right kick in the arse when it comes to politics and needs of the people. Thus—'"

"Thus you are thicker-headed than previously thought," Remus said.

"Come on, we only need a few hundred signatures," said Sirius.

"I'll sign," Lily rummaged through her purse, pulled out her pen, and signed her name on the parchment. "There, now you have a one in ten zillion chance of getting that petition passed."

Sirius and Remus shared a look of shock.

"Okay, this is obviously a doppelganger. WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH LILY EVANS?" Sirius wailed, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her.

"Yes, I'm her twin sister. Signing pointless petitions to raise the hopes of helpless teenagers before they come crashing down," Lily said, wiggling her fingers for effect.

"Moony, we need to keep a close eye on this one. She's nothing but trouble," said Sirius, wagging his index finger at Lily.

"I agree," Remus nodded vigorously.

"By the way, Evans, you should wear that outfit more often. We don't see enough bare leg at this school," said Sirius.

"Black!" cried Lily, tugging down her dress. It was long-sleeved, and black except for two thick white stripes. "Who are you, Potter?"

"I don't know, could be. Though I'm obviously more attractive, eh, Evans?" said Sirius, wiggling his eyebrows energetically.

"Sirius Black, you are such a sleazeball," said Lily.

"Aw, don't make me blush, Evans," said Sirius. "Do you think I should add 'All Hogwarts girls should wear short Muggle outfits twenty-four/seven' to the petition? Well, only the pretty girls, I mean."

"You're horrible!" Lily exclaimed, though a small smile was threatening to creep upon her face.

"You have nothing to worry about, Evans. I mean, look at you," said Sirius. "I mean people like…Snape."

"Snape isn't a girl," said Lily.

"Lily is right. Based on what we saw when Prongs took off his pants last year, I believe Snape is one hundred percent male," Remus muttered.

"Are you sure?" said Sirius with a vicious sneer. "As far as we know, it could have just been an odd-looking vagina."

Sirius emitting a loud, barking laugh and nearly fell over while it was clear that Remus was trying as hard as he could not to laugh along with his friend.

Lily shuddered at the thought of being embarrassed that way and grew irked by the way Remus and Sirius could find enjoyment from that horrible occurrence.

"I bet five cars can fit up that nose of his," said Sirius. "No! Five of those lemonzines!"

"And I'll hit you with a car if you don't shut up. And I think you mean _limousine_," Lily snapped.

"Ah, Lily, nice to have you back!" Sirius clapped.

**XXX**

James narrowly missed a Bludger as he tried to catch the Quaffle just thrown to him by Elizabeth Moore. He spun around their Seeker, William Moss, and headed to the hoops and hurled the Quaffle toward the middle hoop, only to groan loudly when their keeper, Marlene, caught it.

"Sorry, James. Try again," said Marlene.

He didn't know why he was so off today, and even though it was only practise, he strove for perfection when it came to Quidditch. While their captain, Elphias Doge, talked to Elizabeth Moore about how to avoid stooging, James heard someone call his name. He turned towards the Gryffindor area of the seats and saw Remus, Sirius, and Lily. The moment he saw the her, he felt his insides turn to mush and freeze. As he flew down to the trio he felt his stomach give a pleasurable lurch. He couldn't believe how gorgeous she could look in a simple black dress. She folded her arms and was shivering slightly.

"Ya look a bit rusty today, James…no offence," Sirius said.

"I know," James said, messing up his hair with one hand while the other was on his broom. He glanced at Lily who was looking at the Quidditch practise, probably watching Marlene. She scratched her nose; the simplest move she made had a feel of grace. Her cheeks looked flushed from the cold and the light breeze made her eyes water slightly. His eyes, not so tactfully, kept flickering southward.

"Potter?" said Lily, noticing that he was looking at her.

His head snapped up. "Er…are you cold?" James blurted out.

Lily glanced down at her chest and blushed. She opened her mouth, obviously about to murder him verbally, but was interrupted by someone close by saying, "Lily!"

She looked around to see Alexander Jacobson walking towards them. _Why does he want to talk to her?_ James wondered with a slight scowl on his face.

"Oh, hello, Alexander," said Lily pleasantly, looking up at the tall brownish-blond boy.

"Can I talk to you?" Alexander asked and looked at the rest of the boys. "Alone?"

"What do you want to talk to her about that can't be said in front of the rest of us?" James asked rudely, fighting down a sudden urge to strangle the boy.

"Potter!" Lily hissed, irritation materialising in her green eyes.

"No, no, it's alright. I'll just say it here," Alexander insisted. He turned to Lily who looked at him with curiosity, her lips parted slightly. "I know it's kind of early but… It would be wicked if you would accompany me to the Christmas ball."

James panicked. _She won't say yes, she barely knows who he—_

"Yes…yes, I'd love to," said Lily happily.

James felt like a Bludger hit him in the gut. Transfiguring Jacobson into a cockroach didn't seem like such a terrible idea at that moment.

Alexander let out a great breath. "Cool. I'm really looking forward to it. I was afraid someone already asked you."

"No, you're the first one," Lily said.

"Wow, I'm pretty lucky then, eh?" Alexander said.

"I guess. I didn't know anyone else really wanted to go with me," Lily said.

"Are you joking?" Alexander chuckled. "You're probably one of the most desirable women at Hogwarts. I mean…who wouldn't want to go with you?"

"Oh Alex, that's not true," said Lily lightly.

"Of course it is!" Alexander exclaimed.

James felt his hands get sore as his grip on his broom became tighter and tighter.

"Prongs, I think they want you back," Remus said, pointing at his team-mates waiting for James pointedly.

"Oh, okay. I'll talk to you lot later," James said, glancing at Lily, but she wasn't looking at him. She and Alexander were talking quietly and giggling.

James flew back to the practise and got up to speed; he soon caught the Quaffle from Marlene. He dodged one of the Beaters and threw the Quaffle as hard as he could toward the upper hoop, imagining the hoop as Alexander's head. He scored and heard Frank yell "good one!" He did an over-exaggerated victory lap around the Quidditch pitch and looked into the stands, expecting to see Lily watching him, perhaps yelling words of praise. The large beam on his face slid off automatically as he didn't see his favourite redhead next to Sirius or Remus. He looked around and saw Lily and Alexander leaving the pitch together. His heart fell forty feet and splattered on the grass as he saw what she was wearing over her dress: Alexander's blue and bronze Ravenclaw sweater.

"James! Pay attention, you idiot!" said a voice sounding vaguely like Marlene's and before he knew it, he had crashed into one of the hoops. His vision turned black.

**XXX**

Severus stood outside of the library, waiting for Lily to show up. He would just stay in the library, but the library was quite loud at this time and the dungeons were much more peaceful. After waiting for nearly twenty minutes, Lily showed up with, to his surprise, Alexander Jacobson who was holding her heavy satchel over his shoulder.

"Thanks for walking me," Lily said softly.

"No problem. Thanks again for saying…well…yes," Alexander said.

"I want to apologise for James' behaviour," Lily said. "He tends to act like a prat around other guys. He's a bit protective, I guess."

"It's alright," Alexander said. "But, you don't belong to him or anything."

"You try telling him that," Lily said. "Oh and before I forget…"

Lily took off a blue-and-bronze, Ravenclaw sweater and handed it to Alexander.

"Oh, I nearly forgot about it. I suppose it's because it blends in so well on you," Alexander said. "I'm actually surprised you aren't a Ravenclaw, you're so clever."

"Thanks. You're pretty clever yourself," Lily said flirtatiously.

Alexander leaned down and kissed Lily on the cheek before and walking down the corridor, with a little spring to his step, not noticing that Severus was even there.

Severus looked at Lily as though she just spit in his face, his lip curled and his eye twitched when he spotted a dreamy look on her face.

"Hello, Snape," Lily said airily. She leaned against the wall, smiling to no one.

"We're going to the dungeons," Severus said promptly.

"Why?" Lily asked, still in a trancelike state.

"Far too distracting in there, despite Madame Pince prowling the aisles. The dungeons are more peaceful, and it's less likely that people will approach us," Severus said. "So get that stupid look off your face and follow me."

Lily seemed to snap out of her reverie as he quickly strode along the corridor, down a narrow, dimly lit stairwell, which he knew led to the second floor. He stopped before they reached the end of the stairs.

"There are still people walking around, so you go down the marble staircase first and then enter the dungeons—so that it doesn't look like we're going together. Go all the way down the corridor until you hit a wall. Make a right and walk until you see another corridor to your right. Go to the second to last door along the left side. I'll come shortly after," Severus said.

"Make a right…another right…second to last…okay, got it," Lily murmured. "It seems like we're secret agents or something."

"Just go," Severus said.

She walked away and he waited about three minutes before following her. He walked through the entryway to the dungeons to the familiar smell of dust and the feeling of the draught through his hair and robes. It was only parky this time of the year, though it would be 'cold as the north side of a gravestone in winter' come December, then through to February and into March. He made his last right turn to see Lily shivering in the middle of the scarcely-lit corridor.

"I forgot if it was the second to last on the left or right," Lily said lamely. "And I should have kept Alexander's sweater."

"You can be such an idiot at times, Evans," Severus said, muttering _alohamora_ on the correct door and entering the room. Though it had a feeling of neglect, he thought it was fine. He pointed his wand at the outlines of light sources in the room. At the front of the room was a wide mahogany desk and several desks.

"How…quaint," said Lily, who waved her wand around the room to move the desks against the wall. "There, much better…but where are the chairs?"

"Probably in that storeroom over there." Severus pointed at the door in the corner of the room.

Lily walked over towards the small storeroom, and gave a loud squeal as she opened the door and illuminated the space. "Spider webs."

"Oh grow up, Evans. I thought you were a Gryffindor," Severus said, getting more and more annoyed by her as the minutes passed.

"You know, it's rather cramped in here," Lily said from within the small room, and groaned.

"What is it now?" Severus snapped.

"I found the chairs but they're all the way in the back and there is a ton of junk in here. I need help," Lily said, her voice a bit muffled.

"Merlin, Evans!" Severus cried.

He entered the storeroom and discovered that she was correct: it was full of spider webs and boxes. Torn and mouldering books were dispersed around the room; heavy cloaks, too. The small shelves on the side held colourful cloths and blankets. Severus spotted a small piece of parchment with large, cursive handwriting:

_**February 17, 1872**_

_Write to mother_

_Clean closet_

_He sure didn't get around to the latter, _Severus mused.

He heard a small cry and then a loud thump and saw Lily facedown on the dirty ground: a box covering her head and the large cloak wrapped around her ankle.

"Damn," Lily cursed from within the box before pulling it violently off her head and turning over. Severus felt his breath caught in his chest when caught sight of the upper parts of Lily's legs exposed from the fall. "Sorry, I can be such a clumsy oaf," Lily said sheepishly.

Lily then, not so conveniently, picked up a thin old book by her hand and grazed her hand along the withering cover.

"Hey look, it's a journal," Lily said.

"Get up, Evans," Severus said, averting his eyes.

"Wait, I just want to glance through this," Lily said, flipping the pages. "Wow, this bloke must have had a really boring life. Listen to this: 'October 7, 1891: I just gave my students a lecture on the Elixir of Life. They seemed rather interested—'"

"We don't have time for this, Evans. In about an hour we have to be in our respective common rooms," Severus said firmly.

"Ah, but we're prefects. We could stay down here an extra half hour and say we were…disciplining a student or something," Lily said, and continued to read the journal. Severus glared at her, hoping she'd get a hint. She didn't.

"You can read about a nineteenth-century teacher some other time," Severus hissed.

Lily sighed, stood up, and smoothed out her dress and pointed her wand towards the chairs.

"_Wingardeum Leviosa!_" Lily incanted.

A couple chairs lurched towards her, out of the storeroom, and into their appropriate places by the table.

"Remind me never to send you to a storeroom ever again," Severus muttered as they settled at the large table, taking their books from their satchels.

They both started on Defence, briefly expressing frustration that they mostly did theory rather than actually using the spells on one another. Severus looked up from his quill and watched as Lily behaved in a studious manner: much more serious and less playful. He preferred this side of her to when she was energetic.

"Does this look alright?" Lily asked, handing Severus what she had written on her homework so far. Severus read it thoroughly before handing it back to her. "There's is a spelling error in your fifth line and again on your seventh line. Other than that, it looks fine."

"Thanks," Lily murmured, erasing the errors with her wand. "It's not so cold in here once you get used to it."

"Just wait until January," Severus said distractedly.

They both had done their Transfiguration and Charms homework earlier, so they moved on to Herbology.

"Is it just me, or is Herbology getting messier and messier each lesson? My arm was nearly ripped off today. Alice had to hex the plant to get it off me," Lily commented.

"On the plus side, Bulstrode didn't turn out much better," Severus muttered, not planning on her hearing him, though his intention failed and Lily giggled softly.

"I was rather surprised that she even got into NEWTs Herbology. She was never in my class before, but I hear she was never very good," said Lily.

"I'm disappointed in general at the people who got into my NEWTs classes," Severus spat, wrinkling his nose. "Most are entirely incompetent. Some barely scraped by with an Exceeds Expectations. I'm most surprised by the amount of dunces in Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions. How…Potter and the rest of those idiots got in—"

"Potter is actually very intelligent," said Lily, glancing up at Severus.

"That prick doesn't even try," said Severus hotly. "Nor does Black. Lupin, I don't know and don't care. As for Pettigrew—I'm amazed that he got into any NEWTs classes at all."

"Peter isn't that thick…he just isn't as smart as the rest of his friends. He's rather good at Defence, though, and was also quite good at Transfiguration," said Lily.

Severus snorted. He was surprised it was physically possible to place "Peter" and "smart" in the same sentence. Her defence of Pettigrew was pitiful, though Potter's was more so.

"But I too think that Potter and Black could try a bit more in class. I believe it is more rewarding that way. They do not pay attention yet do fabulously in class. It's interesting how people are successful that way while others have to work their bums off to attain the same achievement," said Lily.

Severus didn't respond and began to get back to work, though after a minute of silence he randomly murmured, "And what on Earth is with those idiotic pet names they have for each other?"

Lily's laughter bounced off the walls, and it was oddly contagious, causing Severus to smile the tiniest bit.

"They started using them last year. Don't know where they got them from. I think it's kinda cute, actually," Lily shrugged. Severus snorted and continued to work.

"Have you a date to the ball?" Lily asked ten minutes later.

"No," Severus said, wondering why she was always so interested with his social life and after a sincere exchange, would turn to asking about such trivial matters. Evans continued to dumbfound him.

"Oh. Andrew Jacobson asked me today," Lily said. He didn't have to look up to know that she had a silly girlish grin on her face again. "He is such a sweet guy."

Severus coughed.

"Can I ask you something?" Lily said.

"No," Severus said, scribbling down what do when a magical hydrangea plant expels its venomous substance.

"Who do _you_ wantto go with?" Lily asked, ignoring him. His hand stopped, and ink gathered and seeped through his paper.

"I don't busy myself with such insignificant things as dates—" Severus said, not looking up from his paper, staring at the ink collecting at the tip of the "e".

"Who said it's significant? I believe this whole ball is a bit lame, but I still think a date is nice," Lily interrupted.

Severus gave Lily a cold look. This session was for studying, not figuring out who Severus could go to the ball with. Suddenly, a thought hit him. "Did you only want to be my study partner for some…sick, twisted, Gryffindor-related joke?"

"What?" Lily asked, apparently taken aback, but he didn't buy it.

"Is that why you were so eager? Ask Snape some questions and if he happens to spill something that could result in malicious, juicy gossip, tell everyone? Funny how you suddenly ask to be my study partner the day we find out about the ball. I wouldn't be surprised if Black or Potter set you up for this," Severus said, his voice getting louder with every word.

"No, not at all. I already told you why I want to study with you," Lily said, her voice rising a little as well. "I don't even listen to Potter."

They were both quiet for a while, until Lily broke the silence.

"Why don't you trust me?" Lily asked, obviously trying to ask in a careless tone.

"I don't trust easily," Severus said with condescension. "Unlike you, who probably trusts anyone smiling in your direction."

He glanced up at her and saw her eyebrows furrow at her book, then he continued.

"That can be dangerous, you know," Severus said furtively.

"What's that supposed to imply?" Lily snapped.

"Trust is risky," Severus said simply. "Especially in times like these. You can't even trust your own family anymore, let alone your friends or mere acquaintances."

"I know who to trust and who not to trust," Lily retorted. She looked rather tense, glancing quickly around the dull, dark room.

"Oh really?" Severus asked with a little simper, leaning back in his chair slightly. "Do you trust me?"

Lily's eyes met his black ones. He noticed her body stiffen but she continued to look straight at him, as though figuring him out with a simple regard.

"I—I'm not sure," Lily said gently. "I…think I trust you."

Severus narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"I don't know. You seem like someone I can trust. You seem…different than the rest," Lily said, nibbling on her bottom lip.

"The rest of whom? The people in Slytherin?" Severus asked.

"Petty house rivalry doesn't affect my views on people. Isn't that evident? I know not all Slytherins are the same. Otherwise we wouldn't even be studying together right now," Lily said tightly.

"Which really doesn't seem like such a bad thing at the moment—" Severus interrupted.

"By 'the rest' I mean the self-proclaimed leaders of this school. Mostly the stuck up pure-bloods of various houses. You don't seem like the rest of the pure-bloods you associate with. It's nothing really," Lily said quickly.

Severus' lip curled. When she said that she trusted him, he felt as though he wasn't doing his _job_. Though the passion in her voice surprised him.

"So…you don't trust me?" Lily asked, suddenly interested in the pattern of her blue quill.

"No," Severus said truthfully.

"Luckily I didn't have high expectations," Lily sighed. "Hopefully you can come to. And, honestly…Potter doesn't have anything to do with this studying arrangement."

Severus didn't reply. He didn't know what to think, let alone say.

"You know," Lily said, closing _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_, "You are the most introverted person I know. You are so guarded. Why?"

"It's who I am," Severus said.

"Is that who you are, or who you want to be? The mysterious, troubled boy in black. Trying to be a rebel without a cause?" Lily said with a small smile.

"No, I don't want to be a rebel and I don't believe I present myself as one. I don't try to be mysterious, I don't try to be troubled, and I don't like many colours. Enough said," Severus said defensively. Lily's smile wilted. "I believe the intensions of studying together were academic only. No asking about one another or silly conversations about the colour of each other's wardrobe."

Lily sighed and went back to her book, and he had an odd feeling of achievement.

"I should go now before it gets too late," said Lily a while later. She collected her books and stood up. "Hopefully I can find my way out. Would you like to meet up again tomorrow?"

"Fine," Severus said, hoping to sound very disappointed.

"Okay, same time, same place. Maybe we can set up a routine day to meet up. Bye," Lily said.

Lily left the room while he remained sitting in his cold chair, avoiding contemplating her comments.

**XXX**

Tired and yearning for a good night's rest, she entered the Gryffindor portrait hole and heard someone from within the common room ask, "Is that you, James?"

"No," Lily said as she walked into the large room. The Quidditch team, as well as Sirius, Remus, and Peter, were scattered around the room. She walked up to Marlene. "What's going on? Why do you need James?"

"He flew into one of the hoops," Marlene said. "What an idiot."

"When did this happen?" Lily asked.

"After you decided to get up and leave with _ickle Alexander Jacobson,"_ said Sirius in a mock-baby voice. "He was twisting his head all over the place like some retarded owl. Probably looking for you."

"Why would he be looking for me while he was flying?" Lily asked. "Besides, it's not _my_ fault Potter can't fly properly without being distracted."

Sirius mumbled something to Peter and Remus while Marlene dragged Lily towards the window, her eyes glinting, and a sign that usually meant she was expecting gossip.

"Alexander Jacobson? The cute Ravenclaw?" asked Marlene, grinning like there was no tomorrow.

"Yes," said Lily excitedly. "He asked me to the ball."

"Oh, that's exciting…though I've heard he can be a git sometimes," said Marlene.

"Well, he's not a git around me. And guess what, he walked me to the library, carried my stuff, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek!" said Lily.

She and Marlene squealed, causing most of the Quidditch team give them looks of annoyance.

"That's so sweet…but a bit…I dunno…odd for just asking you out. Maybe he's expecting too much," said Marlene. Marlene had a knack of always finding a downside into something exciting, which at times made her a pessimist.

"I'm sure it's fine, Marlene. And to be honest, I'm kind of hoping…oh never mind," Lily started but started feel her ears burn.

"You can't do that. Tell me, come on," coaxed Marlene.

"I'm hoping to get my first kiss," whispered Lily, though she was looking intently at the ground.

"You've never been kissed?" asked Marlene, her eyes wide. "I would think that someone like you would be able to get one."

Lily looked at her friend confusedly.

"I mean…you're gorgeous," said Marlene.Lily was taken aback as she saw a small look of distaste on Marlene's face.

"What's the matter with you? Looks like you just sucked on a lemon," Lily said.

"I'm fine. I'm just surprised that someone like you hasn't been kissed. I mean, I've been kissed before and I'm not nearly as pretty…" Marlene trailed off.

"Poppycock, Marlene," said Lily. "I'm really not that pretty. You're very pretty too, you know—"

"Yeah, but nothing compared to you. You're perfect," said Marlene.

There it was again; that word: perfect. Snape saying it was bad enough, but her own _friends? _It made her feel as though even those closest to her were mistaken about her. "Marlene, I'm not perfect. Far from it," Lily said softly.

"Perfect grades—" pointed out Marlene.

"They're rather poor at times—" Lily retorted.

"Perfect hair that doesn't poof when it gets wet."

"That's just the way your hair is, Marlene. There is nothing to be ashamed of—"

"Perfect figure."

"Are you kidding? I almost have love handles thanks to the food here. You're actually in shape, Marlene—"

"All the boys going bananas over you."

"Oh yes, because James Potter is everyone—"

"Perfect…feet," said Marlene desperately.

"You're being silly now, Marlene. Are you trying to make me feel bad about myself or good?" asked Lily.

"Sorry," muttered Marlene, not looking into Lily's eyes.

"It's alright, I guess," said Lily. Sure, she was quite good at a few things, but couldn't play Quidditch to save her life, unlike Marlene.

"Anyway, where were you," said Marlene quickly, trying to change the subject. "Alice and I looked in the library for you but you weren't there."

"The library is a big place, you just didn't see me," said Lily, trying to change the topic as well.

"We looked just about everywhere in that place. Madame Pince started giving us weird looks, following us around the aisles, accusing us of disrupting the students. Merlin, she scared us out of that place," Marlene exaggerated.

Suddenly there was a chorus of chattering and questioning. The girls turned towards the portrait hole to see a very disgruntled-looking James Potter (possibly more dishevelled than ever before) walk into the common room with people surrounding him.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," said James tiredly in the small crowd. "Just a broken nose and a bit of a cracked skull. Nothing Madame Pomfrey couldn't fix in a split second."

"That's a relief," Marlene said to Lily. "We were afraid he was really badly injured and couldn't play this weekend."

Sirius threw a shoulder around James and muttered something quietly in his ear. Whatever was said was humorous in Sirius' opinion but not quite to James. The bespectacled boy looked up and his eye caught Lily's. A glare spread across his hazel eyes and brows, sending an unpleasant chill down Lily's spine. Swiftly, a seventh-year Lily knew as Florence Reiter walked up to James and began to speak to him, touching his arm and talking rapidly. Whatever she said seemed to cheer him up.

"I hear she has had…a zillion boyfriends. Ha, if only the professors knew about such promiscuity at this school. I think McGonagall would pass out if she heard of the things Florence has done," said Marlene quietly, as usual demonstrating her "knowledge" of nearly every student in school.

"I bet you've never talked to Florence in your life. Gossip isn't always truth," said Lily lightly. "Remember when Narcissa spread that rumour about you in second year claiming your mum abused you after she saw some bruise on your face—when it was actually from Remus accidentally hitting you in the face with an apple."

"That's different," Marlene said curtly.

The two girls continued to watch Florence. After a while, James' massive grin bothered her to the core. "How can he be so happy after suffering severe head trauma?"

Marlene shrugged and walked over to Sirius, leaving Lily to scrutinise James and Florence, who was now rubbing his back and smilingly impishly. Becoming increasingly annoyed by their behaviour, Lily went to her dorm for a well-deserved snooze.

* * *


	12. Green and Gold

A/N: I have the next chapter sooner than first anticipated! Not sure if I'll have chapter 13 that soon however. I'm rather fond of this chapter, especially the beginning. I suppose I enjoy Snape's interaction with just about anyone!

* * *

**_X Green and Gold_**

If one were to ask who Severus Snape's favourite person was, Bellatrix Black certainly wouldn't be anywhere near the top of his list. Yet there he was, on a Friday morning, talking—or rather, stuck with—the beautiful eighteen-year-old. He wasn't hungry, and neither was Bellatrix apparently, causing Severus to seriously regret not heading to the Great Hall anyway.

Bellatrix crossed her legs and smiled. Her smile was rarely graceful or elegant; instead, it was iniquitous and mysterious, which attracted many of the males of Hogwarts. Though it may have drawn some, her sour nature was a turn-off to many, including Severus. He sat in the deep green armchair across from her, staring at a spot on the floor.

"Severus, I hope my…cousin isn't giving you anymore trouble," Bellatrix said.

"Sirius will most likely never abandon an opportunity to provoke me," said Severus, not looking up.

"Well, I hope you try to give that blood-traitor a taste of his own medicine," said Bellatrix, more of a demand than a wish.

"I do," snapped Severus. "I handle myself quite—"

"Don't give me that rubbish. I've heard things, but _nothing_ as horrible as what I heard happened to you last year," said Bellatrix with a large smile.

Severus felt his blood boil. That was the last thing he wanted to recall, and yet it continued to be a topic of discussion this year. After that summer day, his hatred for Potter and Black increased tenfold and he knew from then on that nothing would change his deep-rooted hatred for the boys whose goal was to make his life a living hell. Despite his fruitless attempts to strike first, the two idiots were one step ahead of him nine times out of ten.

"You have the ability to hex Sirius into a puddle if you wanted to," said Bellatrix. "Why linger?"

"He's been on the end of several well-placed hexes on my part, Bellatrix," said Severus coldly. "Potter as well."

"Ah, Potter," said Bellatrix, an impious smile appearing on her face again. "Now that boy is probably the most disgusting blood-traitor I've ever come across. At least Sirius was of a family whom are proud of their blood; the Potters, on the other hand, would let a Muggle have a picnic on their arses just to prove how…accepting they are. They may be well known, but they are so…blind to the influence they could obtain. Yet they give it up for the sake of peace and harmony." Severus could have sworn Bellatrix gagged. "Soon they will understand that they are on the losing side, the side that won't stand a chance. The Dark Lord's side will win. Actually, we are already winning."

Severus didn't reply to her; it was just more coaxing for him to fully support _his_ cause. The powerful, brilliant man who Bellatrix and some other Slytherins kept raving about until they were blue in the face; the man who he still didn't know whether or not to stand by; yet, the man who could give Severus the respect he craved…deserved. The acts his followers created, however—the murders, attacks, kidnappings—were not so glamorous.

"Oh, the prefect meeting is after the Quidditch match tomorrow," said Bellatrix offhandedly. "The plans for the ball are coming along rather well, though we still need a group to perform after the orchestra numbers."

"Right," said Severus not paying attention. "Whatever."

"Are you just sour because you don't have a date?" Bellatrix asked.

"This ball is a while away. Is it so exceptional that I don't have a date yet?" said Severus, glaring at the rug.

"Severus, you can't get a date, anyway," Bellatrix laughed. Severus narrowed his eyes at the woman across from him. "Have you ever even had a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Been kissed?"

"That's none of your damn business."

"Well that's certainly a 'no'. Don't fret, maybe someone will think that twitchy walk of yours is cute," Bellatrix snickered.

"I don't have a twitchy walk!" said Severus angrily.

"Oh don't give me that. You walk like an injured spider or something," Bellatrix leered. "But I suppose you do have that tall and lanky look that appeals to many girls. It works for my cousin…"

Severus snorted. How dare she compare him to Sirius Black? Though they were both rather tall (Sirius was still taller), the Black gene pool seemed to produce exceptionally beautiful children with perfect hair, features, and natural aristocratic style…unlike the Snape family, which ran to very prominent noses, lank hair and sallow skin. Severus didn't consider himself ghastly, but he certainly wasn't attractive. His features were rather strong, not subtle and elegant. His father's excuse was, "at least you don't look like some bloody pansy".

"What are you trying to do?" asked Bellatrix, giving Severus a lazy look of alarm. "Want to pierce a hole in that rug with your eyes? What's it done to you?"

"Shut up," Severus growled, who didn't realize how much hate was behind his eyes as he stared at the rug. Bellatrix merely smiled and briefly gave a look of acknowledgment to a seventh-year passing by.

"I can get you a date if you'd like. I can pull some strings…" said Bellatrix smugly.

"No, I'd rather go alone than with some girl I'd probably hate and attempt to hex to oblivion," Severus said softly. "Thanks for your concern."

"I'm sure I can try to get a guy to go with you if you…swing that way," Bellatrix muttered but burst out laughing from the look of pure horror on Severus' face.

"I am not amused in the slightest," Severus said, standing up and leaving the common room.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of!" cackled Bellatrix, though he was out of the door before he could hear anymore of her ridiculous ideas. _I swear, Bellatrix Black is mad._

**XXX**

Lily was walking with Emmeline to the Great Hall for a bite of lunch. The corridor was very crowded: a big huddle of first-year girls were giggling and eyeing a couple of fourth-year boys, a third-year couple held were holding hands and moving slower than flobberworms, and it seemed as the entire fifth-year class were trying to nurse their rumbling stomachs.

"Guess…who I'm going to ask…to the ball…oh sorry," panted Emmeline, accidentally bumping into a seventh-year.

"Who?" asked Lily as she hastily pulled a strand of hair out of her face.

"Remus," said Emmeline. "I think I may have a shot. Didn't you say to me once before that he may like me?"

"Erm, yeah, I'm pretty sure. He always starts to blush when he's around you, and you've liked him for a while. I'm sure he'll say yes. Oh, you two would be adorable together," said Lily excitedly.

"I hope he says yes. I'll ask him tomorrow. All the seventh-years told me I should ask as soon as possible so that all the good ones aren't taken," said Emmeline. The two of them finally seated themselves in the Great Hall. "I mean, imagine being stuck with someone like Snape. Yuck!"

Lily shrugged her shoulders as she tipped the salad onto her plate.

"I agree," said the voice of Sirius who seemed to Apparate next to the two girls. With him, of course, were James, Remus, and Peter. Marlene was right behind the boys and sat next to Lily. "When he and his date are on the dance floor, she'll be slipping all over the place with all that grease dripping from him. Poor girl will have grease all over her robes. Who would want to be seen in public with that arse?" Sirius said nastily.

"I don't know, Black. You guys pay so much attention to him, I wouldn't be surprised if any of you had a secret crush," said Marlene with a smirk.

"Oh ho ho, McKinnon," said Sirius, pointing a steamed carrot at her on his fork. "You should be glad I'm such a gentleman or you would be in the hospital wing right now."

"Ah yes, Sirius Black, what a gentleman," murmured Lily over her goblet.

"Well, Wormtail has got himself a date," said Remus, clapping the watery-eyed teenager on the back, causing him to grin.

"Oh really?" asked Marlene hungrily.

"Calm down, gossip queen," Lily muttered to Marlene. "Who are you going with, Peter?" asked Lily.

"Persephone Portman, she's in her fifth year. I asked her this morning between classes. I would have asked her in the common room if it wasn't so crowded," said Peter proudly, as though he had just tamed a hungry lion.

"I'm happy for you," said Lily. "I hear she's a very sweet girl."

Peter then began rambling on about how he never had a date before. Lily and Remus tried to hold in their laughter as he began to panic about which cologne he should wear: the cologne that nearly killed Sirius because he was allergic to one of the ingredients ("Do you think she'll be allergic to it too?")…or the one that smelled better but made Peter itchy ("Nobody would want to kiss me with nasty red blotches all over my neck, would they?").

"There must be some sort of mistake," said James sourly. "How did _you _get a date before _me?"_

"What? Is it a crime for your friend to have a date before you?" asked Lily curtly, stabbing her fork into her food harder than necessary.

"I don't believe I said that, Evans," said James evenly.

"You should be happy for your friend, not disappointed," said Lily. "It's not his fault you're a sore loser."

"I'm not being a sore loser," said James cheerfully. "Congratulations, Wormtail. You will go to the ball with a great date. Not a total arse like _some_ _people_ are."

"Yeah, I sure feel sorry for the girl that has to go to the ball with _you,_ Potter," said Lily, her green eyes filled with spite. "She'll be in the same boat as those unfortunate people you just referred to. She'll probably think someone performed the Engorgement Charm on your head and be too afraid to even dance with you."

"I don't know why you're acting so high and mighty, Evans," said James nastily. "You're the one going to the bloody ball with one of the biggest prats—"

"He is _not_ a prat, Potter," Lily said, her fork clanking loudly as she placed it next to her plate of unfinished food. "You're just jealous."

"Jealous? Of what exactly?" James laughed coolly, though it didn't reach his eyes. He folded his arms across he chest, his hazel eyes blazing into hers through his black-framed glasses.

"You're jealous of Alexander because he is taking _me_ to the ball," said Lily.

"I don't give a damn about who is taking you to that stupid ball," retorted James.

"That's the biggest load of bollocks I've ever heard!" yelled Lily.

"Will you two stop it?" asked Emmeline quietly.

"No!" shouted Lily and James. Sirius nearly spit out his water as a laugh tried to make its way up his throat while Peter looked at the two with an amused smirk.

"Why don't _you _get a date before insulting others'?" said Lily.

"You say that as though it's a challenge," laughed James arrogantly.

"You are so…ugh! No girl would want to go to the ball with a conceited toad like you anyway!" cried Lily, standing up and storming out of the Great Hall, too annoyed to notice that she wasn't very full. As she walked around the ground floor corridors to no specific destination, she noticed that, for the first time, James didn't call after her.

**XXX**

Severus Snape sat with his legs reclining on the table in front of him, his ankles crossed, reading a textbook he checked out from the library about archetypes in dreams. He turned to the last few pages of the book until he saw the word "Index" in black ink on the thin, yellowing page. Running his finger along the first page of the index, he found what he was looking for: Anima/Animus, 49-53. Flicking through the somewhat thick tome, he reached the section on Animas and began to read. The fact that he was reading a book so closely related to Divination bothered him, not to mention the fact that he was actually listening to what a character in his dream told him to do. Albeit, he was intrigued by what he found:

_The Anima and Animus serve as _psychopompi, _or soul guides, to the vast areas of our unacknowledged inner potential._

Before he could read further, the sound of high-heeled shoes hitting cold stone got louder and louder from the outside of the door. Severus quickly stashed the book into his bag and watched the door silently. Seconds passed and the door opened, revealing an auburn-haired girl who looked taller than usual. He looked down and noticed that she was wearing high-heeled black shoes which he assumed was stylish among Muggles.

"You're late," Severus said to Lily, drumming his fingers along table full of books and parchment.

"I'm sorry, I continue to get turned around down here," Lily said, setting her satchel on the table and pulling out her books, placing her quill and parchment neatly across the dusty ebony wood surface. "And before that, a few little Slytherins decided to fling green and silver confetti on me. Merlin, I hate the way people behave before Quidditch games. Running amuck all over castle and hexing students of the competing house."

"Just so you know, there is still some confetti in your hair," said Severus, causing Lily to practically claw at her red tresses for the obscene pieces of silver and green.

After giving up, she sat in the chair already placed on the other side of Severus. "Do you mind if I take my shoes off? I love them, and they are normally very comfortable…they just aren't that great for walking around a thousand-year-old castle."

"Sure, whatever," said Severus with a dismissive wave of his hand.

She took off her shoes swiftly, exposing red-painted toenails set against light peach toes. The skin on her feet was a faint pink from walking. He rolled his eyes as she began to wiggle her toes and let out a sigh. "The woes of trying to stay in touch with Muggle fashion."

He watched her toes squirm for a moment longer before saying, "Alright, would you like to start or do you want to see if your toes can do a jig?"

Professor Slughorn had given his NEWTs students a long sheet of parchment full of questions about various plants and herbs used in various antidotes. Severus usually had no problem doing homework, but this work was so incredibly tedious that poisoning Slughorn didn't seem like such a bad idea.

"Nothing in my book says anything about the affects of sneezewort when mixed with boiling pomegranate juice and spiders. And how would that help the antidote anyway? It's fine without it," said Severus angrily as he quickly sifted through his Advanced Potions book as well as a few books he checked out from the library.

"Oh you're on that one still?" asked Lily.

Severus looked up at Lily over a large green leather bound book. "Yes…"

Lily sat up straighter in her chair. "Well I suppose I just know the answer to that one because during the summer when I was at Flourish and Blotts I stumbled upon—"

"Get on with it, please," requested Snape, rubbing his left temple with his index and middle finger.

"I'll speak at the speed I wish to speak at, thank you very much," Lily bit back.

Severus narrowed his eyes at Lily. He hated back talk, but if it meant explaining something to him… She clarified that the sneezewort helped reduce the side affects to the antidote and though it wasn't necessary, it was often used, though many argue whether or not it makes a tremendous difference or not.

"Thanks," he muttered, quickly filling the tip of his quill with ink and began to write.

"No problem," Lily said. "You know, I'm actually glad I have a lot of work to do tonight. It helps get my mind off other things…" Lily trailed off.

Severus didn't say anything and carried on writing.

Lily blurted out, resting her chin on her open palm, "Potter was horrible today."

Severus' ears perked. "Was it a new experience for you? Because that isn't out of the ordinary."

"No," said Lily. "But he gets jealous far too easily. He is so…bigheaded."

"Again, that is hardly news," Severus said.

"He wasn't always like that. He was always very outspoken, but he used to be sweeter, kinder," Lily said, a sad crease appeared between her brows. "But now…"

"Now? He has always been the way he is now!" Severus said heatedly. "He was always arrogant, rude, insolent—"

"But—" Lily started.

"However Potter acted towards you in the past was most likely a façade," Severus snapped.

"I wouldn't say that. He is just different around you than he is around me," Lily said.

She was right, of course, except Severus couldn't admit that. He opened his mouth to reply, but Lily spoke before he got a chance. "I'm sorry, I keep on discussing things that aren't related to school."

"It's fine," said Severus quickly, wanting to continue insulting Potter.

"No, we should get back to work," said Lily quietly.

After what felt like a lifetime, they both completed the worksheet and moved on to their Defence theory…as usual.

"I'm seriously thinking about reporting Professor Elroy to the headmaster. Either she just really likes written work, or—" Lily started.

"Or she can't perform a single spell," interrupted Severus. "Even _I_ could teach that class. Such incompetence…"

Lily chuckled, her laugh almost sounded haunting. The dim lighting (which she had complained about earlier) absorbed into her skin so half of her slightly dimpled cheek cast a shadow. "You wouldn't be able to teach an entire class by yourself. You don't have the credentials. But I'm starting to think that Professor Dumbledore was really desperate with this one. He can't seem to hold on to a teacher for more than a year," said Lily.

"No, he can't. But if I wanted to just do theory, I could have taught myself all this," said Snape frankly.

"Someone is confident about classes," said Lily dryly. "Can't say that about the rest of the time."

"Excuse me?" Severus hissed.

"You're excused," said Lily brusquely.

Severus glared at the girl across from him, not appreciating her cheek in the slightest, especially when she was about to address his confidence…or the lack thereof.

"What do you mean 'the rest of the time'?" Severus asked.

"Well, you aren't exactly epitome of self-assurance are you?" Lily said simply. "You're usually confident when it comes to anything edifying…socially on the other hand…"

"My social life is none of your business," he snarled. "Yet, you continue to bring it up in nearly every conversation we have. I wouldn't hesitate to call off this entire studying arrangement you were so keen about."

"No!" Lily said quickly. "It's fun."

"Not for me," said Severus.

"I'm sorry, alright," said Lily. Severus stared at her vacantly.

They were quiet until Severus pulled out his Arithmancy textbook. "Were you good at maths as a child?" Lily asked.

"Yes, I was," Severus said shortly.

"Did you go to a Muggle primary school or were you taught by your parents?" asked Lily.

Severus hesitated before answering, but figured his answer wouldn't give away anything vital. "I went to Muggle primary school but was later taught at home."

"I was horrid at maths," Lily said with a reminiscent smile. "I was much better with puzzles and non-math-related problem-solving. That's why I'm taking Ancient Runes. I didn't have to take it but I just love it. Decoding and such."

"There is decoding in Arithmancy too," said Severus.

"I thought there was a hint of Divination in Arithmancy," said Lily. "You don't seem like the Divination type."

"There is more reason in Arithmancy. It involves the magical properties of numbers. Divination consists of crackpot gypsies speculating future events based on the position of tea leaves and seeing a spot of fog in some ball," said Severus. "Pardon me for being somewhat sceptical."

"That subject never really interested me, either. I enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures and I was going to take it too. But I wanted some free time in my schedule so I decided against it. A lot of people are sticking to it, though," Lily said.

"Well I for one didn't enjoy seeing Professor Kettleburn getting bits and pieces of his body stung, bitten, bloodied, or removed every lesson," Severus said. "It's a pointless class, unless they are all interested in doing something related to magical creatures when they are out of Hogwarts."

"But it was still an entertaining class. What about that time when he warned us that unicorns preferred females? He said that it was alright if he approached it because he was an expert but when he approached it, the unicorn chased him for about ten minutes," Lily said. "That was probably the highlight of fourth year."

"Though it was amusing, it wasn't enough for me to continue taking the class for another two years," Severus said, the corners of his mouth perking ever so slightly.

He glanced up at Lily and noticed she was smiling fondly at him. He frowned. "What?"

"You should do that more often. I'm sure you have a pleasant smile," said Lily. A second later, she was stuttering. "B-but, I suppose I just like smiles. I—I enjoy teeth," Lily blurted out.

"You enjoy teeth," Severus reiterated.

"Yes…you know…the way they are all hard and…square? Yes, yes…the way they are all square…and stuff," Lily rambled lamely. "Unless you have rounded teeth, but they still have a bit of a squarish look to them."

Severus was dumbfounded._ What is this girl inhaling?_

"You're a nuisance."

"I know."

**XXX**

The Gryffindor changing rooms were draughty the next morning. The late November weather brought an extremely cool wind, causing the Quidditch players to shiver or jog up and down in place. James was pacing quietly; a clench of nervousness he couldn't seem to dispel twisted his stomach. He was always particularly worried during the first game. Why the first game was so late this year, he didn't know, but felt like complaining to Dumbledore about it after the game. To his right stood Elphias Doge, quietly muttering to himself and stretching his arms. Marlene was trying her best to get the team pumped up by singing, but stopped when Elizabeth threatened to hex her. The rest of the team were making small talk amongst themselves.

"Merlin, can't even get a team excited anymore, can you?" Marlene complained.

"Well maybe it's the fact that _Hagrid_ sings better than you do," said James with a smirk. Marlene stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm a fabulous singer…my mum says so," Marlene said.

"Well, your mum should be slapped," said James.

Marlene scowled and walked away, beginning to sing again. The other Beater, Rilo Adams, and Chaser, Melissa Blake, shivered in the corner, looking just as nervous as James felt. William was flexing his fingers and straightening out his gloves. The sounds of hundreds of students approaching caused his stomach to feel weak again. Loud chatter, feet hitting the spectator stands, singing, and laughing met his ears.

"Okay," said Elphias. "Get your brooms. Let's get out there."

The team grabbed their brooms and walked outside in an organised line, the overcast weather greeting them with a strong gust of wind which meant that this would be a tough game. They were the first ones out on the grassy field and cheering and whistling was heard throughout, though boos and hisses along with it.

"And here are the Gryffindors: Moss, Blake, Potter, Moore, McKinnon, Adams, and Doge!" said the announcer, Yara Pruneburg, a loud seventh-year Gryffindor.

James searched the Gryffindor side of the stadium and his spirits immediately rose as he spotted Sirius, Remus, and Peter's faces painted red and gold. The boys were jumping up and down like maniacs, yelling enthusiastically, even in a nearby first-year's face (he began to scream himself…out of fright). James laughed and immediately searched for Lily. It took him a while but he finally saw her next to Emmeline and Alice. To his pleasure, she had accepted Alice's dare to wear shimmering gold face paint.

"And the Slytherins: McGerr, Rosier, Turpin, Meltzer, Grey, Black, and Amthia!" yelled Yara.

The Gryffindors began to boo loudly, though many in the crowd were cheering and waving green and silver flags. Their captain, McGerr led the pack. Her curly blonde hair bounced in the breeze. Behind her was Evan Rosier, simply smiling, and James felt his temper rise.

Madame Hooch appeared and barked, "Captains, shake hands." McGerr and Elphias shook hands speedily. "Players, mount your brooms, and"—she blew her whistle—"go!"

The balls were released and James took off, quickly received the Quaffle from Elizabeth and headed for the hoops.

"And there goes our favourite Chaser, Potter, with the Quaffle," said Yara. "He sure looks a bit cuter this year, doesn't he, girls?"

"Ms. Prunesburg…this is a game, not a bathing suit competition!" barked Professor McGonagall, seated next to her.

"Sorry, Professor," said Yara, though many girls in the audience were heard cat-calling.

James saw Evan heading in his direction so he quickly passed the Quaffle to Melissa before diving slightly to avoid him.

James glared at Evan. "Your captain must be mental to have you on the team. What'd you do? Screw your way in?"

"Shut your mouth, Potter, or you'll regret it," Evan spat, flying down the field, James on his tail.

"—Ooh, and Turpin intercepts Moore's pass to Blake. He's looking for someone to pass to. Where's Rosier? Ah there he is, and he receives the pass and—Potter bumps Rosier, trying to make him loose his hold on the Quaffle!" Yara announced.

James was, indeed, shoulder to shoulder with Evan and, just his luck, a Bludger was headed right towards Evan's arm.

"OUCH! The Bludger hits Rosier's arm and the Quaffle falls! But it's caught by Potter!" Yara shouted.

With the Quaffle securely under his right arm, he sped all the way to the other side of the field, narrowly avoiding a Bludger at one pont, and threw the ball into the lower hoop.

"AND POTTER SCORES! Gryffindor leads 10-0!" Bertha yells. James pumped his fist in the air and the Gryffindor supporters in the crowd went wild while the Slytherins booed.

Slytherin gained possession of the Quaffle and Turpin passed to McGerr, but Elizabeth intercepted and zoomed down the field. Just as James was expecting her to pass the Quaffle, a Bludger zoomed in their direction, hitting her funny bone and causing her to drop it.

"THAT WAS DELIBERATE, HOOCH!" yelled Yara

"Hush!" McGonagall warned.

Several loud boos were heard but Madame Hooch yelled, "Continue the play! Continue the play!"

Elizabeth rubbed his elbow and continued to play, albeit more aggressively.

"Potter doesn't look very happy about that one. I still say that was a foul! Meltzer knew exactly what he was doing!" said Yara matter-of-factly. McGonagall rubbed her temples.

Rosier was already on the other side of the field by this time and threw the Quaffle into the upper hoop. Marlene just missed it.

"ROSIER SCORES! TEN POINTS TO SLYTHERIN," said Yara. Marlene circled the hoops despairingly, cursing to herself silently.

"S'alright, Marlene!" yelled Elphias.

"And Blake has the Quaffle now—watch out! Blake has dropped the Quaffle! WAIT! Potter caught it! He is going towards the hoops but…OUCH…that looked painful."

A Bludger hit James ankle, but he clutched on to the red Quaffle and threw at the centre hoop, but the keeper caught it.

"AMTHIA HAS BLOCKED THE THROW! Amazing save, really!" said Yara. The Slytherins cheered.

"Now Rosier has the Quaffle again. He's doing pretty well for his first game, eh? Potter looks like he has it out for him though. They're neck to neck! Wait a sec, folks; Rosier's grip on the Quaffle has loosened. Potter grabs the Quaffle but—OI! FOUL!" Yara barked.

"Calm down, girl!" chided McGonagall, but she seemed rather angry herself.

Evan had elbowed James deliberately in the side, hitting his ribs hard. James seized his side and groaned, falling to the ground. Luckily, he was only seven or eight feet in the air, but the impact of his body on the hard ground hurt this back and neck. The Gryffindors bellowed and yelled obscenities.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle shrilly, halting the game. "Are you alright?" she asked him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," James groaned as the rest of the team flew down to see if he was okay. He saw Evan and Turpin laughing together nearby.

"What happened?" asked Blake, but Hooch was about to answer that for him.

"Penalty shot to Gryffindor due to cobbing!" Madame Hooch said loudly (amplifying her voice wasn't at all necessary). "Take it, Potter."

James flew up to the hoops, closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. Madame Hooch blew her whistle and James threw the Quaffle as hard as he could into the lower hoop. His arm nearly fell off, but he made it.

"POTTER SCORES! 10-20 GRYFFINDOR!" Yara shouted. The Gryffindor supporters went wild. "He sure is cute when he pumps his fist like that—it's alright, Professor! It's just an observation. Alright, looks like Doge and Adams are doing a hell of a job getting those Bludgers away from their players and—wait! Moss has spotted the Snitch! Black sees it too and is now on his tail! They are both almost there! Wait, a Bludger seems to have thrown Black and Moss off course. Better luck next time, you two."

James intercepted the Quaffle between Turpin and McGerr and ducked as a Bludger zoomed in his direction, courtesy of Grey. He passed to Melissa who dodged Meltzer and scored on Amthia immediately.

"Another goal for Gryffindor! Good job, Blake!" said Yara. "And Slytherin is in possession. McGerr is streaking up the field. Wow, she looks really determined, folks. She's brushed off all the Gryffindor players, and Grey and Meltzer are doing a good job of keeping the Bludgers away from her."

James flew as fast as he could towards McGerr but was blocked by the Slytherin Seeker zooming in front of him.

"And McGerr shoots and—McKinnon blocks the throw, recovering from her last mess-up!"

Marlene stuck her tongue out at Yara and looked livid from the comment, though excited to catch the Quaffle.

"And Slytherin is in possession once more," Yara announced. "Turpin passes to Rosier who looks like he is about to pass to McGerr— Oi! Potter intercepts the pass! He's going towards the Slytherin hoops. Amthia better watch out. He ducks Turpin, swerves around Rosier. Uh-oh! A Bludger is going straight towards Potter! Doge deflects the speeding Bludger and Potter keeps going. Potter scores once more! And the crowd goes wild!"

The game became more and more violent as the game went on. The game had to be halted three more times for fouls and bad behaviour (mostly between Marlene and Evan). Fifteen minutes passed and Slytherin scored thrice more, tying the score.

James narrowly missed getting hit by a passing Bludger as he headed towards Turpin, who was now in possession of the Quaffle; but immediately stopped as he saw William zipping after Black, higher and higher into the sky. They had seen the Snitch.

"Come on, William! Catch up!" yelled Doge. The rest of the team was also distracted by the two Seekers and looked up.

"Moss and Black see the Snitch! Their arms are outstretched…they're shoulder to shoulder! MOSS CATCHES THE SNITCH! MOSS CATCHES THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

William flew down to the grassy bottom looking breathless but pleased as he held his Snitch-filled hand in the air. The Gryffindors cheered and yelled as the Slytherins booed and gave the Gryffindors not-so-friendly hand gestures, causing Professor Slughorn to approach many students and restrain them.

James flew down and gave William a manly hug and pat on the back, Doge and Adam did the same. The girls, however, showered William's face with kisses and squealed.

The team headed to the changing rooms and James quickly took off his Quidditch uniform and put on his black robes with the initials "JP" in golden embroidery over the left breast. After a minute or two, Sirius and Peter entered the Gryffindor changing rooms.

"You were great, Prongs," said Peter, who was looking at James as though he was Merlin himself.

"Well, you sure improved since the last practise," said Sirius, the red and gold paint dripping from the cold sweat on his face. "I had a pouch of Galleons betting on you. If Gryffindor lost, then I would have had to kill you."

"Well, that's lovely, Sirius," James said. "It feels great to know who my real friends are."

"Oh, I think you may find this interesting," said Sirius. "Florence was sitting behind us and when you fell you should have heard her! _'Oh, that looked so painful! I hope he is alright. Should he be taken to the hospital wing?'"_ Sirius said, imitating her voice…badly. "I swear, the bird was about to have a heart attack. Anyway, let's go to the common room. I'm…meeting someone there."

"Who?" asked Peter curiously.

"Your mum. I invited her to the castle and we're going to have a merry ol' snog in the common room, Peter. You didn't know?" said Sirius, putting on a solemn face.

Peter looked like he was about to die from shock.

"Honestly. Your mum should keep you more informed," said Sirius. As Peter looked more and more dumbfounded, Sirius and James laughed heartily. "I'm just joking, Wormtail! Are you truly _that_ thick?"

"Of—of course. I knew that. See: ha ha," Peter said, though neither Sirius nor James were convinced.

They walked across the grassy grounds, into the Entrance Hall, and up the marble staircase, making their way to the Gryffindor common room. On the way up, Lily was descending, passing the three boys without much acknowledgment. James ruffled his hair and stopped walking.

"Evans," he called, Sirius and Peter stopped as well. "Evans!" he called again as she continued to walk. "Hey, wait!"

Lily halted and turned around. "What is it, Potter?"

"Looks like you're going the wrong way. Would you care to join me in the common room?" James asked politely.

"I'm busy," Lily said shortly.

"With what?" James asked shrilly. "It's a Saturday morning!"

"Well, unlike you, I have responsibilities to attend to. There is a prefect meeting right now and I have to be there," Lily explained.

"Oh, right. Remus wanted me to tell you that," Sirius muttered in James' ear.

"Well…you can meet up with us after," said James promptly.

"I may be busy afterwards, too," said Lily. "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Lily walked a few more steps before turning her head over her shoulder. "Oh. You played well today, Potter," she said, and continued to walk.

Those eight syllables were all it took to feel warmth from his chest to his toes. He stared after her with a small smile on his face, his eyes following her as she walked quickly down the hall. Sirius hit him in the back on his head. "Come on. Evans can wait. There are better things to look forward to in the common room."

"Like what?" James asked.

"Like snogging Peter's mum," said Sirius.

The boys entered the common room. Sirius made a beeline to some brunette reading the paper by the window while James was bombarded with praise and butterbeer from fellow Gryffindors. The mob followed him to the couch he sat on and he sat there, soaking in the admiration and saying "thanks" every once in a while.

"Budge over, Potter," said Marlene, sitting next to James on the couch with a goblet of warm butterbeer in her hand. "Good game, eh?"

James nodded and heard a loud "excuse me, excuse me" from nearby. Through the crowd came Florence, her wavy blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. She had a large grin on her face that turned into a grimace as she saw Marlene sitting next to him. "Um…do you…mind?" she said coolly.

Marlene glanced around before looking at Florence again. "Are you talking to me?"

"Well, unless there is someone else on this couch, yes, I'm talking to you," Florence said sharply.

Marlene stared at Florence but reluctantly stood up and walked over to Alice and Emmeline. Florence flopped down on the couch and crossed her legs. "You were brilliant today, James," she said softly.

James grinned. "I know." They laughed and Florence rested her hand on his chest. He felt his chest burn but ignored it.

"You're funny, James," Florence said. "And a bit fit too."

"Why are you stating the obvious, Florence?" James said, running his hand through his hair and giving her a toothy grin.

"No, really, is it from Quidditch?" Florence asked, a glint appearing in her brown eyes.

"Yup, I think so," James said. Florence licked her lips slightly and James almost started laughing at the ravenous look on her face.

"So, who are you going to the ball with?" Florence asked, parting her glossed lips and pouting a bit to feign a look of innocence. He noticed that her hand was now off his chest and resting on his knee.

"Good question," James said. Florence giggled and moved her lips to his ear. Her breath tickled his ear and made him feel slightly dizzy.

"I don't have a date either," she said huskily, touching his hair with the pads of her fingertips. "Just so you know. I've been asked, of course, but…I turned them all down."

"Why?" James asked hoarsely, playing along with her flirtation.

"Because they weren't my type. And not nearly as attractive as…others, either," Florence said, biting down on her bottom lip and looking into his eyes, continuing to lightly scratch his scalp, sending odd chills down his spine.

"Well, would a tall, hazel-eyed, amazingly good-looking young man be better?" James asked.

"I certainly think so," Florence said, that gleam back in her eyes, so that it nearly glared off his glasses.

He knew what she was expecting him to do. She wanted him to invite her to the ball. But what about Lily?

_Forget Lily! She's already going with Alexander, anyway! _said half of him. The other was struggling to come up with reasons not to ask Florence to the ball.

_She's a seventh-year!_

So what?

_She may be horrible at snogging._

That's not what I hear.

_She has…loads of earwax._

Rubbish!

_What if you stick your tongue in her ear though?_

Erm…

"In that case…I'd be honoured if you would go with me to the ball," James said, smiling broadly at her.

Florence didn't return the smile, instead she moved her face closer to his and placed a very quick, wet kiss on James lips. "Of course I'll go with you." She smiled at him; the impish look on her face causing his dignity to self-destruct. He kissed her back, moving his hand to the back of her head and pulling her closer. Their lips parted and Florence panted slightly as she straightened out her knitted vest and skirt.

"You're a good kisser, James. There'll be more where that came from." Florence winked, stood up, and walked to the staircase of the girl's dormitories. Only five seconds after she left the couch, he noticed the people looking at him curiously, though some had knowing looks. Suddenly, a large hand was on his arm and pulling him to a corner of the common room.

"You guys really couldn't wait to be somewhere more intimate, could you?" Sirius whispered, beaming at his friend.

"Oh, as though _you _ever do," James scoffed.

"She was practically on top of you, Prongs!" Peter pointed out.

"Well, you know how it is. She just couldn't get enough of me…who could?"

"Lily," Peter said.

James cursed silently under his breath.

"What are you so upset about?" Sirius asked disbelievingly. "What does she have to do with anything?"

"He still likes her, doesn't he?" Peter asked this of Sirius rather than James.

"Well he has an interesting way of showing it," Sirius said, smirking like no tomorrow. "What gives, Prongs?"

"I don't know…" James said truthfully. "Does that mean I don't like Evans anymore?"

"It means something. Either you're over Lily or you're just a horny bastard…the latter wouldn't be anything new," Sirius said. "We'll know for sure tonight."

"Why tonight?" asked James.

"Its simple, really," Sirius started. "If you start moaning Florence's name while you're wanking, then you're over Lily. If you're moaning Lily's name like you do every other night, nothing has changed." James punched Sirius roughly in the arm. "What?" Sirius laughed.

"I don't see what's so funny about that," James hissed, narrowing his eyes at Sirius.

"Well, you're pretty obvious, Prongs. It's actually pretty distracting," Peter said, ignoring James' reddening face. "I mean, I'll be having a completely normal dream about…flying without a broomstick or eating a zillion pumpkin pasties without being sick and then I'll hear Lily's name out of nowhere."

"Shut your fat mouth, Peter," James growled.

"Hey, hey, hey…don't get your knickers in a twist because the kid was stating the truth," Sirius said, resting his elbow on Peter's shoulder.

James refused to talk to Sirius or Peter for the rest of the morning.

**XXX**

The prefect meeting was more heated than usual. They had to decide on a band to play at the ball and after what seemed like hours of arguing and whining (the latter courtesy of Narcissa Black); the Hobgoblins were chosen to perform after the classical numbers. Lily was pleased about the decision and left the prefect meeting with a spring to her step. As she walked down the fifth-floor corridor, she spotted Alexander talking to a few of his Ravenclaw friends.

"Alexander!" Lily called. Alexander turned towards Lily and made his way over towards her. His friends snickered.

"Hi Lily," Alexander said conversationally. "Gryffindor played well in the game today."

"Yeah, I was impressed," Lily said. "I'm usually not so enthusiastic about Quidditch."

"I know what you mean. I'm a big Quidditch fan but I prefer football…but that's a bit hard to play here," Alexander said. Lily nodded.

"My dad is crazy about football," Lily said with a faint smile. "Or just crazy in general. Either one will do."

Alexander chuckled.

"Are you coming along or not, Alexander?" yelled one of the boys.

"Coming, coming," Alexander said over his shoulder. "I should go now. We need to talk more often."

"I agree," Lily said quickly.

Alexander gave her a swift kiss on the cheek and whispered, "I'll see you around."

Lily nodded stupidly and gently touched her cheek as he jogged down the corridor to meet up with his friends again. She mounted a nearby staircase surrounded by paintings on the wall supporting it. One painted woman, wearing eighteenth-century garb, followed Lily through various frames, looking at Lily as though she was a particularly ugly but interesting animal.

"What?" Lily exclaimed as the woman was starting to bother her.

"What year is it, dear?" asked the woman, her voice incredibly snooty-sounding and her towering wig moving with her lips.

"Erm—1976," Lily said.

The woman snorted, her wig nearly falling off. "No wonder your outfit is so atrocious! Merlin, have you ever heard of something called style, dear?"

"This coming from a woman with whale bones clutching her ribs and hair taller than her body…" Lily murmured before continuing to climb the stairs, a distant cry of "Well I've _never_ in my life!" reaching her ears.

Lily walked down the sixth-floor corridor and searched for a staircase with fewer portraits. She passed by an adjacent, windowless corridor and heard faint whispering near the end of it. Her natural curiosity got the best of her and she tiptoed down the corridor, even despite her bad luck with corridors that year. The voices became gradually clearer and harsher, making her press her body against the dark, stone wall. Peeking an eye around the corner, she saw Bellatrix and Narcissa Black talking to each other rapidly about twenty feet away. _It's odd for them to be on this floor, _Lily thought.

"I knew that you talking to him wouldn't work!" Narcissa scoffed.

"Well, I'm usually very gifted in the art of persuasion, Cissy," Bellatrix retorted.

_Cissy? _Lily nearly laughed.

"Yeah, sadly it usually only works if you are about to remove an article of clothing," Naricssa drawled.

"Very funny, Cissy. You know that's not true!" Bellatrix growled. "He's just too…something. At this rate he will never be sure."

Narcissa sighed. "Why are we here?" she asked.

"The Ravenclaw common rooms are on this floor and I'm meeting one of them…Head Girl duties…don't ask," Bellatrix explained.

"Well the girls and I were going to do makeovers, and—" Narcissa started but was interrupted.

"You think makeovers are more important than this?" Bellatrix asked dangerously.

"That's rich, coming from someone who preferred to take a nap than help me write a letter to Lucius asking questions about the Dark Lord," Narcissa snapped.

"Fine, we're even," Bellatrix whispered.

"Don't stress about this too much. He'll come around sooner or later," Narcissa said.

Lily heard feet shuffling and ran down the passage as quickly and quietly as she could. As soon as she reached the main corridor, she slipped into a broom cupboard. After hearing the girls' footsteps fade away, Lily emerged from the small, dusty cupboard and made her way straight to the Gryffindor tower. She knew that their conversation involved Voldemort in some way, but didn't know what to think. Were the Blacks interested in joining Voldemort or was it pure curiosity? She has heard of many who were rather intrigued by him and believed that some of his ideas were brilliant, genius even, but wouldn't join him despite that. She wouldn't be very surprised if the Blacks were interested in joining. Lily also wondered who "he" was.

"Levé le baton," Lily said to the Fat Lady, and entered the very noisy common room. Red and gold streamers were hanging from the ceiling and lying on the floor; some were even draped over children.

She noticed that Remus was already in the common room and was laughing with the rest of his friends. Sirius glanced over at her and whispered to the boys, causing James to peer at her over Sirius' shoulder. Lily decided to avoid any confrontation and went to her dormitory, pleased to find Emmeline, Marlene, and Alice (whose face was buried in her pillow on her four-poster bed) already there.

"Kill me, Emmeline…" Alice said into the red fabric, her voice very muffled. "Kill me now. Go on, get out your wand."

"What happened?" Lily asked.

Emmeline sighed. "Frank is taken."

Lily went over to Alice and rubbed her back consolingly. "I'm sorry, Alice."

"What's worse is the fact that when she approached him she let out the most unattractive sneeze in existence," Marlene said with a hint of amusement.

"DON'T REMIND ME, MARLENE!" Alice roared.

"Who is he going with?" Lily asked.

"Femblugm Fenular," Alice muttered into her hands.

"Excuse me?" Lily raised an eyebrow. "I didn't quite get—"

"Fairblossom Finola!" Alice wailed then made noises of frustration to her pillow.

"So it looks like you and I are the only people taken. Luminus is going with me to the ball," Marlene said to Lily. Alice cursed, Emmeline sighed pensively.

"I thought you were going to ask Remus, Emmeline," Lily said.

Emmeline shook her head and made a face. "He's taken, too, just asked out yesterday. I shouldn't have waited so long."

Lily opened her mouth, ready to sympathise with her friend, when Marlene interrupted.

"Guess who else is taken, Lily," Marlene said.

Lily took off her vest and shirt while making a wild guess. "Potter."

"Right-o, my friend. But guess who he is going with."

"I don't know…Mrs. Norris?" Lily asked. Marlene chuckled; Alice moaned in her pillow.

"No…Florence," Marlene spat.

Lily's hand was on the zipper of her skirt and she froze briefly before shaking her head. "Oh. Well, I'm not very surprised."

"They were kissing on the couch and everything. Oh! And you should have heard what that tart said to me. She told me to get up so she could sit next to Potter and suck his lips off," Marlene ranted. "I did the right thing and kept my temper in check, but if it had been any other day…"

"Oh please, Marlene," Emmeline chuckled. "Must you be so overdramatic?"

"Hey, at least I'm not carrying on like Alice," Marlene snapped. Alice groaned louder. "Honestly, Alice, It's not as though he doesn't like you. Someone just asked him first, and Frank isn't the type to say no to a sweet girl like Finola…"

Lily listened to Alice wail about Fairblossom with Marlene and Emmeline as she changed into more comfortable clothing. "So they were snogging in the middle of the common room?" Lily asked, sitting on Alice's bed.

"Yep, it was disgusting. I was starting to wonder whether they were kissing or eating each other alive," Marlene said.

"Oh please, that's exaggerating just a tad," Emmeline said. "It was a few kisses. But everybody was watching them and they didn't seem to mind. The public displays of affection at this school are going overboard."

"I'm sure you wouldn't think so if you had Remus Lupin snogging you," Alice said rudely.

"Alright, Alice," Emmeline glared. "That's enough. Don't put your bad mood on me!"

Lily didn't understand girls sometimes. They comfort each other one second then the next, one wrong thing is said, and they are at each others' throats or giving cold shoulders.

After Emmeline and Alice's mini-fight, Lily grabbed her satchel and lay on top of her comfortable red-and-gold covers, closing her curtains slightly. She took out all of papers and books and looked them over. Her eye caught the paper Severus had looked over a couple of days ago and a faint smile reached her lips. Lily wondered what he would say about the strange behaviour of girls. _He'd probably say something along the lines of "I don't care a whit about girls…leave me alone and let me finish my reading", _Lily thought. She laughed.

"What's so funny in there?" she heard Marlene ask.

"Nothing," Lily replied.

Lily was still rather surprised that Severus had agreed to study with her in the first place. She didn't know why she was so intrigued by him. Was it the fact that she was interested in someone who was such an intellectual? And why did she always want to get to know more and more about him? Unfortunately, he didn't want her to know _anything _about himself. But what did he have to hide? He was a gifted, almost certainly privileged pure-blood who probably made his parents proud. Sure, he was unpopular, but he didn't seem to care very much. What was he so afraid of exposing? Lily figured that she would never truly get to know him as much as she wished to.

* * *

A/N 2: Thanks for reading. If you can, I'd appreciate some reviews for chapter 11 for how the beginning of the Anima dreams was for my readers. I'd like to know what they think. As usual, please review. Fic writers gobble that stuff up and they are greatly appreciated for inspiration, motivation, and constructive crit. 


	13. Dance Lessons

A/N: Okay, here is chapter 13. It's a bit of a filler chapter but there are some significant bits.

* * *

**_X Dance Lessons_**

Breakfast was usually a rather slow time of the day. Grogginess, expecting mail or parcels, and tension due to essays or a particularly difficult homework tended to plague Hogwarts in the morning. In short, if one were in an extremely good mood in the morning, they are either under a cheering charm or had been hit very hard on the head.

James Potter was the exception, however, much to the dismay and interest of a few Gryffindors. Lily would be placed under "dismay".

"People are trying to eat you know," Lily said while watching James and Florence whisper to one another on the other side of the table with their faces close; Lily wasn't noticing the amount of milk she was pouring in her bowl of cereal.

"Well, I hope they have a good breakfast," James said, then resumed to "speaking" with Florence.

Lily sneered at the couple and could have sworn Florence gave her a smug smile before turning her head towards James. She couldn't believe James had the audacity to announce his date to the entire common room the night before. Who did he think he was and why did he think any of the other Gryffindors would care? Before she could ponder any further she felt something wet on her leg.

"Lily! Pay attention!" Alice said at her left. Lily looked down to see her skirt covered with milk. She pulled her wand out of her right knee sock and muttered a cleaning charm, ignoring snickers from around the table, most noticeably coming from Florence.

After a minute or so Florence got up, blew James a kiss, and left the Great Hall. As Florence exited, Sirius, Remus, and Frank entered the Great Hall.

"How's lover boy?" Sirius asked James. "You two were being appropriate, right? Don't want Prongsie to get a detention, do we?"

"He just may if he continues to snog Florence all over the place," Frank smirked. "Good morning, Lily, Alice."

"Morning, Frank," Lily said, smiling slightly. Alice made a grunt of acknowledgment; Frank decided it was a good time to butter his toast. Lily cleared her throat. "Good night's sleep?"

"I haven't had a good night's sleep in years," Remus grumbled. "Peter and Frank are snorers, Sirius spends half the night scratching, and James talks in his sleep."

"Talking, Moony?" Sirius chortled. "It's like Moaning Myrtle is in the room," he told the girls.

"Sirius," James growled. Lily had no idea what they were talking about but decided to change the subject.

"Scratching you said?"

"Yeah, fleas, you know?" Sirius said, and began digging into his breakfast with absolutely no shame as bread crumbs accumulated around the sides of his mouth. But the obscene pieces of grain didn't seem to stop his many female admirers from gazing at the handsome boy.

"You boys have fleas in your dorm?" Alice made a face.

"Well, they all seem to be near Sirius' bed. They are never near the rest of us," replied Frank. "I'm actually curious about that myself. Why on Earth do you have fleas in your bed?"

"Erm, dunno…maybe those fleas are just attracted to handsome men," Sirius said with a lopsided smile. Lily was positive she heard a chorus of absentminded sighs from the Ravenclaw table.

"Right," Frank murmured, causing Alice to giggle. Frank began to chuckle too, but immediately stopped when he looked at Alice. "Er—Alice…you've kinda got a spot of jelly on your chin."

Lily looked at Alice and Frank was right, though 'a spot' was an understatement: there was a massive blob of jelly on her chin. Alice's round cheeks turned a soft shade of pink and yelped, "Pardon me", before running out of the Great Hall.

"Good job, Frank," James laughed, oblivious to Frank's regretful expression.

"Honestly, Potter!" Lily barked. "Frank, don't worry. She would have been more upset if she didn't know about it."

"Is she angry at me?" Frank asked more to himself than Lily.

"Well, she's just disappointed right now. She'll get over it," Lily said. Frank nodded and took a gulp of coffee. Suddenly, the flap and hoots of owls were heard across the hall, announcing the arrival of mail. In seconds, Artemis appeared at the table with a long parcel and another owl arrived with the _Daily Prophet_. After placing a Knut in the owl's pouch, Lily grabbed the paper.

"Anything new?" Remus asked.

"Did the Minister receive my petition yet?" Sirius asked anxiously.

"No, just another person claiming to have seen Voldemort," Lily said, causing Remus to blink rapidly and Frank to twitch. "This woman swears that she saw him with 'a yellow handbag, hot pink dress robes, and high heels'…oh dear."

"I thought it was common knowledge that You-Know-Who was a cross-dresser," James shrugged, causing a few tense laughs.

As Lily was glancing through the headlines, she felt a nip on her finger. Artemis was waiting expectantly by the large brown parcel. "What?" Lily asked.

Artemis blinked and flew off, her wing hitting Lily's head purposely.

"What's in the package, Lily?" Remus asked. Lily ripped open the brown paper and it was what she expected: her dress robes for the ball, covered in thin white paper. On top of the paper was a note from her mother.

_Lily,_

_Here's a dress for that ball, but next time pay closer attention to your school list. I hope it's appropriate for the occasion. Your father and I aren't really sure what you lot wear to formal events…so we're apologising in advance. Sorry for keeping Artemis for so long. Your father bought a book about owls recently and wanted to see if she could do any tricks. He was disappointed to discover that after over a week of "training", she couldn't do anything. _

_Anyway, we hope school is going well._

_With love,_

_Mum and Dad_

_P.S. Petunia and Vernon were over for dinner last night. The more I see him, the more appalled I am with the man._

Lily smiled, ripped open the paper, and squealed.

"What is it?" Remus asked.

"Dress for the ball," Lily replied. When Remus tried to peek Lily clutched the dress close to her. "It's a surprise; you can't see it until the ball."

"You just don't want to show me because it's hideous," Marlene said later that afternoon in their dorm. "Mine sure is."

"Let's see then," Lily said. Marlene walked over towards her trunk, pulled out a green dress covered with ornate trimming, and fastens. "What are you talking about, Marlene. It's beautiful."

"It's my mum's. Old fashioned too. Apparently it's been passed down through our family for years. It looks good on her but not on me," Marlene said, throwing the dress unceremoniously in her trunk. "Oh, can you come with me to the library? I need to get a book for Muggle Studies."

Lily agreed and the two girls walked along the calm corridors to the library. As usual, books were zooming towards their proper places on the hundreds of shelves. Marlene made a beeline towards the Muggle section, Lily behind her.

"Is this something I can't help you with?" Lily asked.

"It's a detailed essay about Muggle space exploration. You _could _help me a bit but you wouldn't know all the details, I'm assuming," Marlene said. Lily left Marlene to look through the books and wandered around the library aimlessly. Out of nowhere, she felt somebody slam into her, almost knocking her off balance. She discovered it was Regulus Black.

"Why hello, Miss Evans," Regulus said with an odd smile.

"Hello, Mister Black," Lily said, about to go back to Marlene when she saw Severus exit the aisle in which Regulus exited seconds before.

"Evans," Severus said in a blank voice, neither rude nor polite.

"Snape," Lily replied evenly. "What are you up to?"

"Though it's hardly any of your business," Severus said stiffly. "I was helping Regulus find a book for his Potions essay."

"I know it's not my business, Snape," Lily said. "Well, I came here with Marlene. She's getting a book."

"Well that _is _what most people do in the library," Severus said.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Lily smiled. The corners of Severus' mouth twitched.

Regulus cleared his throat. "Severus, maybe we should get back to the common room."

"Right. I'll be there shortly…just check out your book," Severus said, and walked back into the aisle of books to get his satchel. Regulus shrugged and went to the front of the library.

"Snape?" Lily said as Severus pulled his satchel over his shoulder. "I was thinking that we should pick a specific day of the week to get together."

Severus scratched the bridge of his nose and looked at the floor mutely. "I don't know…Thursdays?"

"That sounds good," Lily said. "I should go find Marlene now. I'll see you tomorrow in Potions."

"Right…Potions," he replied quietly.

Lily gave him a small smile before she left the isle and went to find Marlene, who later chided Lily for "abandoning her in her time of need".

**XXX**

"Are you sure the potion would be more effective if I added more knotgrass?" Regulus asked when he and Severus returned to the quiet Slytherin common room.

"Well, it's a work in progress. It's worked once but didn't turn out so well the next. However, it may have been the temperature of my potion. I remember Potter extinguished the fire underneath my cauldron that day last year. After that I only tried the potion over again a couple times more when I was free," Severus explained, reading a book on ancient defensive spells.

"You're probably as geeky as they get, Snape," Regulus scoffed. "Working on potions in your _free time?_ Merlin…"

"Rather that than play Quidditch," Severus said. "I find the art of potion-making much more rewarding than flying around of a broomstick chasing a silly ball with wings."

Regulus snickered and continued writing his paper at the small green table under the large, ornate light fixture above their heads, illuminating an entire half of the common room. His quill suddenly stopped. "So, what's with you and Evans talking to each other?" Regulus whispered.

"What do you mean what's with it?" Severus hissed, prepared to phrase his words carefully.

"Well why did you greet her?" Regulus asked.

"Why did _you_ greet her?" Severus countered.

"Because I ran into her, literally," Regulus replied. "And you?"

"I greeted her because she was there and it was the civil thing to do," Severus said, satisfied with Regulus' one-shoulder shrug.

"Got a letter from Mum this morning," Regulus said. "She didn't mention Sirius at all, which was great. It's like he never existed or something. I don't think he got a letter either, not even a Howler from her like he usually does."

"Congratulations," Severus said.

"She also gave me some sweets. Want some?" Regulus asked.

"No," Severus declined. Regulus pulled out a few brightly wrapped candies from him robe pocket and began to munch on pieces of caramel-vanilla filled dark chocolate. "Do you get much mail from your mum and dad? I don't see you getting much."

Severus hesitated. He had a feeling Regulus knew that Snape wasn't a pure-blood. "They're busy. I don't mind not getting letters. They're all the same anyway."

"What about the gifts?" Regulus asked.

"Don't need any," Severus said.

"Well, Father owled me a few more dress robes to choose from for that ball," Regulus said as though it were nothing out of the ordinary. "He said that all Blacks look good in dark red and in dark green. So now I'm deciding which colour to wear."

"Congratulations," Severus repeated.

The portrait hole opened and Regulus and Severus looked towards the door to see Professor Slughorn bustling through the room, a sight rarely seen.

"Why hello, Severus, Regulus," Slughorn said joyfully, walking towards the green bulletin board and posting a piece of parchment on it.

"Hello, Professor. What is that?" Regulus asked.

"Ah, announcement for dancing lessons next weekend," Slughorn said, bouncing on his heals and twisting his white moustache with an index finger.

"Dancing lessons?" Severus and Regulus said at once.

"Why, of course!" Slughorn said, his light green eyes widening. "Do you expect us to just let you all embarrass yourselves, not to mention the professors, in front of our special guests? I would hope not!"

"What kind of dancing?" Severus asked.

"Hm, I suppose a typical waltz, with perhaps a minuet thrown in there," Slughorn said casually.

"A minuet?" Regulus yelped. "Those are murder to learn!"

"Well, we hope you'll be able to get the gist in about an hour and a half at most. You'll be doing the rest of your practise on your own time," Slughorn said. "The Headmaster will make an official announcement at dinner."

"What exactly is this ball for?" Regulus asked.

"Well, frankly, I'm not sure," Slughorn admitted. "And I couldn't agree more to one! Not only are the members of the board of governors invited, but important Ministry officials as well. Even the Minister herself! Enough people to go around for my most gifted."

"Most gifted?" Severus asked.

"Connections are very important, Severus, as I'm sure you have heard me say plenty of times before," Slughorn said sternly. "My most gifted being those in the Slug Club, of course. I expect each of you to introduce yourselves to the important people there. They may be—will be—impressed with you lot. They may even offer you career opportunities in advance. Well, I must be off!" Slughorn announced, returning to his less serious side and exiting the common room.

"Well," Regulus said. "This could be very interesting. I mean, I haven't even considered my career choices yet and I may impress someone who works for the Ministry."

"It's not that interesting. If anything, those officials will be so puffed up that they won't talk to half the people in the Slug Club," Severus said.

"Well, probably not those Mudbloods like Evans or that Basil kid…" Regulus snorted. "But the rest of us, sure."

Severus returned to his book, and Regulus to his essay, inwardly worrying about the dance lessons.

**XXX**

Dumbledore's dancing lesson announcement was received with squeals and groans throughout the Great Hall later that evening. Accompanying the dance lesson announcement was the real reason for having a ball. "Top Ministry officials suggested a get-together of sorts at Hogwarts this year so that they are reassured that, despite this ongoing war, Hogwarts and its students stand strong."

Lily, unlike what seemed to be a majority of Hogwarts, was excited about the dancing lessons—which she made known that Thursday when she and Severus were studying again in the dim dungeons.

"Sure, it'll be hard, but I've always thought that knowing how to do at least one ballroom dance was important," Lily explained, ignoring Severus' scowl.

"Important for what, exactly?" Severus challenged. "You think that when you're in…Auror training or something, you'll be required to know how to do a foxtrot?"

"Of course not," Lily said. "But it could come in handy at future formal events, weddings, bar mitzvahs…" Severus snickered, albeit mockingly. "I think you're just nervous about the dancing," Lily said, resuming her Ancient Runes work.

"Nervous?" Severus said. "I'm not nervous about some…silly dance lesson. It's just moving your feet around."

"Ha," Lily hooted. "Just moving your feet, eh?"

"Sure," Severus shrugged carelessly, but Lily had a feeling he wasn't being sincere.

"Well, we'll see at the ball, then, won't we?" Lily smirked at Severus, who looked up at her under his curtains of black hair.

"As though you'll be paying attention to me, anyway," Severus said. "You'll probably be to busy with your date."

Lily shrugged and asked him what he got for question fourteen.

"It's most affective when used non–verbally, but most witches and wizards speak the spell out," Severus read off his paper.

"Yup, that's what I put," Lily nodded happily. "Transfiguration is getting ridiculously hard."

"Well, it _is _NEWTs Transfiguration. We aren't turning goblets into quills anymore, Evans. It's much more advanced, yes, but it could be harder," Severus said.

"But those eyebrow charms are _murder_. Professor McGonagall had to charm my left eyebrow back after class," Lily said. "But it was nice to see Potter with a uni-brow."

Severus smirked. "Unfortunately, the idiot is rather gifted in Transfiguration."

"Yeah, I bet Florence wouldn't be too fond of his uni-brow while they're snogging all over the common room," Lily muttered, scribbling on her parchment. "Maybe Marlene was right about her."

"I didn't know it was physically possible to have the words 'Marlene' and 'right' in the same sentence," Severus said.

"Careful, Snape," Lily said. "I'm sure with enough power I can turn your lovely eyebrows into a uni-brow just like Potter's."

"You wouldn't dare," Severus scoffed. _Lovely eyebrows?_

"Try me," Lily smiled, lifting her head a little. Severus paused his moving hand and looked up at her. After half a minute of an awkward staring contest Severus rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to give you the satisfaction."

"Fine," Lily said.

A pregnant pause filled the room so only the sounds of turning pages and quills were heard. Severus cleared his throat, "What is this about…Florence?"

Lily groaned. "Florence 'can I stick my tongue down your throat' Gregory is—" Lily started, but stopped when she realised how similar she sounded to Marlene. "She's going with James to the ball. They aren't even going out yet and they're already kissing all over the place."

"Okay, don't care anymore," Severus said, and returned to his book. "There are more important things to think about than that dunderhead's significant other."

"I know. And I shouldn't have said that about her. I'm sure she's fine…" Lily tried, in vain, to convince herself.

**XXX**

"Left hand turn and z figure…yes…yes…NO!" barked Madam Blochette, their dancing instructor that weekend in the presence of fifty Slytherins and Professor Slughorn. Severus was, conveniently, paired up for the day with Narcissa, who was very good at waltzing already. "Please do the correct turn next time! From the top!"

"It's all a matter of feeling the music," Narcissa drawled, her eyes closed, a small smile on her face. Though the smile turned into a grimace when Severus stepped on her left foot. "Ouch! Watch it!"

"Pardon me, Cinderella," Severus whispered icily. He hated to admit it, but he was wrong: it was a lot more than just moving one's feet around.

"Cinder who?" Narcissa barked.

"Nothing," Severus snapped. "You know, it would be more helpful if you—"

"Well maybe if your feet weren't so bloody clumsy! At least _Lucius_ can dance," Narcissa hissed.

"Naricssa, if you don't shut up, I'll hex your legs into your ears," Severus said.

She didn't insult his dancing for the rest of the lesson, but did groan and curse every time he made a blunder. Severus looked over Narcissa's shoulder and saw Slughorn attempt to strike up conversation with Blochette. The woman didn't seem to be in any mood to make small talk, though, and instead rushed over to Nott and his partner.

"What on EARTH are you doing, boy?" she screeched. "This is a minuet step! Not hip grinding!"

"I wasn't grinding anything!" Nott retorted.

"Now, now, Demetrius…let's not get hostile. Miss Blochette is simply trying to help you lot dance. You'll be able to dance to your delight _after _the minuets, Oleander," Slughorn replied, ignoring a number of corrections of "It's Wilkes" around the room. "Alright, back to it. You don't want to make the Slytherins look bad in front of Bartemius Crouch, do you?"

Meanwhile, Lily wasn't doing much better, and neither was her partner.

"I think we'll both need to soak our feet it hot water after this," muttered Remus.

"I hope Alexander can lead," Lily said and winced as Remus stepped on her foot.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Remus quickly apologised.

"It's fine, Remus," Lily smiled weakly. She looked around the room to see Marlene paired up with Sirius who was, surprisingly, dancing as though he was on a cloud. Marlene, on the other hand, was having trouble keeping up. James was doing alright, too, unlike his partner, a giggly fourth-year McGonagall had stuck him with.

"That girl is going to have a ball—no pun intended—when she gets back together with her friends," Lily said.

Remus spun Lily around. "Hm, James doesn't look too happy about her…but not as unhappy as Florence looks."

Lily glanced around until her eyes fell on Florence, who was dancing with none other than Peter Pettigrew. He was muttering the steps to himself while Florence looked like she was about to hit the boy. "Poor Peter…stuck with _her,"_ Lily said.

"Since when don't you like—sorry—Florence?" Remus asked.

"Good question," Lily responded. "It's stupid, really. I have no reason to dislike her. Maybe it's just a phase. She just…peeves me."

"Ah," Remus said in an unconvinced tone.

"Do you not believe me—ouch," Lily winced.

"Sorry—and not really, no," Remus said.

"RIGHT TURN! RIGHT TURN!" the instructor, Mister Roget, exclaimed. "Is Mr…what is it, young man?"

"Black, sir," Sirius said.

"Ah…well, I'm not very surprised, then. Anywho, is Mister Black the _only_ one who can dance a proper minuet?" Mister Roget asked, rubbing his temples.

Everyone nodded.

"You all better buck up!" McGonagall barked. "I will not stand for the Gryffindors to look like a load of…Neanderthals with fancy shoes. Now get to it!"

"Why do we have to dance a minuet, anyway?" whined James. "It's the 1970s, not the 1770s!"

"Mister Potter, I want this to go perfectly. No excuses. Believe me, I'll be watching that night," McGonagall said firmly, her lips in a tight line and her index finger scanning the room.

"Now, from the top!" Mister Roget demanded. Remus stepped on Lily's foot again.

**XXX**

All the healing charms in the world couldn't relax Severus' feet that weekend. The prefects' bathroom was full the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday. He even saw some non-prefects exiting and entering the special bathroom

With sore feet and practising dance steps in between classes came the first signs of a very cold, stormy winter. Snow fell that Monday evening, inducing several students to create snow angels and throw snowballs…at Severus' head.

"Just use some dark hex on them!" Regulus suggested with a hint of exasperation and eagerness. "That'll get them to stop."

"Stupid little Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs aren't worth it," Severus said. "Not to mention the fact that such an art shouldn't be wasted."

"Ah, come on. It's just throwing a curse at someone," Regulus said.

Severus frowned at his naïveté. "The Dark Arts aren't just about cursing someone. They're multifaceted and highly difficult to master. There must be talent behind every Dark Art; a little imprint of yourself going into every attempt at success. Oh, it's much more than just cursing a random bystander, no matter how much they may deserve it."

"Sorry to offend," Regulus scoffed. They stayed there talking about nothing for a while before deciding to go back inside. As they entered the warm, inviting threshold of the castle, Severus and Regulus caught sight of Lily, Marlene, Alice, Emmeline, and a few other girls running down the marble staircase giggling and hastily wrapping themselves in scarves and heavy robes. Unnoticed by the rest of her girlfriends, Lily did not smile or verbally acknowledge seeing him; instead she simply looked at him. In those passing three or five seconds, despite how much he wanted to look past her and follow Regulus to the dungeons entrance, her green eyes held his attention. It wasn't until they both past each other by that he regained his composure.

Her look bothered him. He had no idea why but it made him feel as though she was uncovering something or that she knew something he didn't. His discomfort soon put him in an odd mood. "If you don't mind, I'd like to do some reading now," Severus said abruptly.

"Er, why?" Regulus asked.

"Because I feel like it. Go bother your girlfriend," Severus suggested.

Regulus shrugged and he and Severus parted ways. Soon after, he deeply regretted his decision, however. He turned the corner and spotted, who else, but Potter, Sirius, Remus, and Peter advancing. Severus turned around quickly, his fingers gently touching his wand.

"Hey! Snivellus!" yelled James. Severus froze, inwardly wincing at the nickname, and turned around swiftly.

"Look here, guys! Snivellus is all alone. Can't say I'm surprised, though," Sirius snickered, only feet away from Severus. "This year has been pretty slow, eh? We haven't spent enough quality time with our ol' mate Snivelly."

Severus gritted his teeth. "It's almost amusing how horribly bored you are that you have to resort to calling me by such immature epithets."

Sirius quickly pushed Severus so hard that he fell to the ground. On his side, James picked up Severus' satchel, opened the flap, and hung it upside down so all the contents crashed to the ground. While Severus distractedly watch all his items fall, Sirius promptly grabbed the back of his black school robes and pulled them over his head, obscuring his vision.

He heard James laugh, along with Sirius and Peter, who never seem to get enough of watching his friends in action. Remus simply followed the rest of the boys down the hallway who all began to chat as though nothing happened.

Frustrated, Severus slumped against the wall of the draughty corridor and righted his heavy, second-hand robes. He watched his scattered books and parchment grace the cold floor in silence. As each day passed, his hatred for the foursome increased tenfold. Black and his lazy look of enjoyment and biting comments; Lupin, with his lack of interest in tormenting others, yet going along and watching anyway; Pettigrew's fetish for humiliation of any level…and then there was Potter. Rich, presumptuous, strutting James Potter acting as though every act he graced upon the Earth ought to make _God _envy him.

"Bloody arse," Severus hissed, slamming a nearby book on the floor.

Someone cleared their throat.

Severus snapped in the direction of the sound, wand in hand ready for it to be Potter back for another round. He gasped when, instead of his enemy, he saw the Headmaster.

"Oh," Severus said, jumping to his feet and bending a bit at the waist. "Good evening, Headmaster."

"Good evening, Mister Snape. Or would you prefer Severus?" Dumbledore said calmly.

"Whichever," Severus said immediately. It wasn't every day that a student ran into the Headmaster, leaving him rather nervous, though he cleared his throat and stood up a bit straighter. "Where are you off to tonight, Headmaster?"

"Nowhere specific, Severus," Dumbledore said. Severus rarely heard his name spoken in such a pleasant tone. "A leisurely walk around the castle is good for the legs."

Severus nodded. Dumbledore's bright blue eyes twinkled, as they always seemed to. "First snow of the season. I must say, it's rather late this year, but it's futile to question Mother Nature's plans. Why are you inside the castle on such a pleasant evening?"

"Felt like being alone," Severus said.

"Ah, yes." Dumbledore nodded silently. "And what is all this on the ground?"

"I fell," Severus lied. Dumbledore looked into his eyes again, and Severus could swear his vision became ever so hazy.

"I see," Dumbledore said, and with a swipe of his right hand, all the parchment and books gathered together and neatly assembled into Severus' empty satchel.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Severus said, bending down to retrieve his bag.

"Think nothing of it, Severus. If you'll excuse me," Dumbledore said, and continued to walk along the corridor.

Severus watched the Headmaster disappear around the curving corridor in silence. He wondered what made him feel so disgustingly open during those few occasions which he spoke with the man. Something in his presence could make the most introverted of humans bare their souls under completely mundane conditions. Severus made his way back to the dungeons and his common room, ignoring the cheery giggles of students in the halls just getting in from the pleasant snow. As he entered the threshold into the dungeons, he heard a familiar female voice say, "I don't CARE if you sculpted my face out of snow, Potter, I'm NOT keeping it in my room, purse, or undergarments for safekeeping!"

**XXX**

Patent leather shoes made tracks in the crunchy snow as Lily Evans made her way back into the castle after a comfortable evening tea with Hagrid. The dark grey skies screamed snow, but decided to linger until the most inconvenient moment for all the mortals below.

The past few days were utter hell for the prefects. They had to plan the finishing touches for the ballroom and report them all the heads of each house and Dumbledore to get the final approval. The professors agreed to the very specific lists of decorations and the prefects were finally free from their months of busy Saturday mornings. The school year was already going by at a disturbingly fast rate, and the ball was that weekend, then the students were all free for their three-week holidays.

The halls of the castle were now decked out with holiday decorations: holly, brightly coloured trimming, and even mistletoe were common sights in the corridors nowadays. The aroma of newly-installed Christmas trees filled the students' noses in between classes and despite the natural dreariness of the castle in winter, the decorations always brightened things up. Lily was about to mount the marble staircase, hoping the prefects' bathroom wasn't taken, when a seventh-year Hufflepuff she only knew as Daliva approached her.

"Hello, Lily," Daliva greeted. "Professor Slughorn would like to see you in his office right now."

Lily groaned, thanked Daliva, and made her way towards Slughorn's office, curious about what the man wanted yet also frustrated that her bath time was being intruded upon. She wandered down the third-floor corridor in which his office was located and knocked on the door.

"Come in, come in," said Slughorn on the other side of the door. Lily entered and saw Slughorn behind his large desk, writing. "Ah, Lily, you got my message, I suppose?"

"Daliva said you wanted to see me," Lily said.

"Yes, yes, sit down, Lily," said Professor Slughorn. She sat. "As you know, the ball is the weekend…"

"Yes, I'm quite sure I know that, since I was on the decorating team for nearly four months," Lily said. Slughorn chuckled.

"I'll cut to the chase," he said, his moustache bouncing up and down with his hidden upper lip. "As the Headmaster said, important Ministry officials will be present. Now—"

"Let me guess, you want me to sweet-talk the officials," Lily said. After six years of having him as a professor, Lily knew his style.

"Sweet-talk isn't what I would call it," Slughorn said. "Charisma is the key, Lily. Charisma."

He paced slowly behind his desk for a moment or two before turning to her again. "To be frank, many of them don't believe that people like you are as gifted as others."

"Professor, I believe you had the same idea yourself, five years ago," Lily said calmly.

"Ah, but now I know better. Though, there are still very few Muggle-borns who are so gifted in magic as you are," Slughorn said, assuming that statement would somehow make her feel more special.

"Muggle-borns can be just as good as those of pure blood, Professor Slughorn," Lily retorted.

"I'm not trying to attack you, dear. Ultimately, with your talent and intelligence, you can impress an important official more than the average Muggle-born student," Slughorn replied. "Bartemius Crouch is going to be there, you know."

"Yes, I know," Lily said with little interest.

"Well, I expect you to try your best to communicate with him somehow. Little do many students know, simple salutations and small talk can lead to big things once you leave school and think about what you want to do for the rest of your life," Slughorn said, and began to pace again. "Now, do you want to be the young woman who, due to a few good conversations with the top Ministry men and women, got one of the best positions in a department at the Ministry? Or would you like to be the wallflower that never felt the need to charm and ends up overlooked?"

Lily wanted to snap "wallflower" just to spite him, but wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. "Alright, Professor, I'll try to talk to them. Would you like me to drag my date along with me?"

"Oho! The more the merrier!" Slughorn said excitedly, not catching the displeasure in her comment. "Okay, Lily, you're excused."

Lily happily jumped up and out of the office; she could almost taste the warm, perfumed bubbles. When she reached the forth floor landing, though, she heard a feminine howl. Lily walked briskly towards the source of the squeal and was positively livid at the scene in front of her: a small crowd surrounded James and Peter who were laughing and pointing at the ceiling, which a young woman was attached to by the soles of her shoes.

"POTTER and PETTIGREW!" Lily barked. Peter twitched and turned, James calmly turned towards Lily with a smug smile on his face. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TWO THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Lily looked up and pulled out her wand. She placed a cushioning charm on the floor and said, "Okay, I'm going to get you down."

"Are you insane? I'll fall and crack my head open and die!" the young woman on the ceiling, Bertha, screeched.

"Let's hope," James said.

"Shut up, Potter," Lily growled, causing him to immediately shut his mouth. "Don't worry, the floor is cushioned!"

At a flick of her wrist, the girl fell down. Lily ran to her and immediately gasped: Bertha was a bright shade of orange and her nose and hair were long green sprigs of foliage. Essentially, Bertha resembled a large carrot in a Hogwarts uniform.

"POTTER! HOW COULD YOU?" Lily cried. "Wait until Professor Dumbledore—" Lily started over the girl's howls and tears and the crowd's laughter.

"Hey, that ugly bitch started it. Talking, almost _bragging,_ about how she saw me and Florence snogging," James snorted.

"I don't care if she was talking about you and Florence having sex behind Hagrid's hut!" Lily said, blushing ever so slightly at her own comment. She noticed James' smirk and she felt herself blush even more. "That doesn't mean you should hex her!"

Peter seemed unsure about what to do, but began glancing around the corridor nervously as though afraid Bertha's cries would be heard from a teacher.

"She got what she deserved. That'll teach her to shut her mouth," James spat.

"You are disgusting, James," Lily glared. "Come on, Bertha, let's go see the Headmaster."

"Just take her to the nurse!" James cried.

"No, this is something the Headmaster should take care of," Lily said, and marched off, separating the dwindling crowd.

"Oh, come on, Evans," James whined, walking briskly after her, Peter in tow.

"No, James. We're going to the Headmaster, now," Lily said, her arm wrapped around Bertha, who was still crying and didn't need to be dragged by a girl over a year younger than she.

After mounting three flights of stairs with James and Lily bickering, Bertha sobbing, and Peter groaning, they approached the outside of Dumbledore's office. Two gargoyle statues began to snicker as the auburn-haired girl approached.

"Is Professor Dumbledore there?" Lily asked but the statues said nothing.

"I honestly don't have time for this," Lily barked. "Can you just let us in?"

"You can't get in without a password, Evans. I thought you'd be a bit more familiar with the wizarding world by now," James snapped at Lily, causing her to turn around.

"Don't talk to me, Potter," Lily said calmly.

"It's funny, because I believe that I can talk to you when I want," James scoffed, his arms crossed across his long-limbed body.

On cue, the gargoyles leapt aside and a spiralling staircase emerged as Professor Dumbledore stepped out.

"Miss Evans, Miss Jorkins, Mister Pettigrew, and Mister Potter. What a pleasant and, if I must say, rather unexpected surprise," Dumbledore said.

"Professor, I'm afraid to report some inappropriate behaviour from Potter and Pettigrew," Lily stated, nodding her head towards James who was still perched against the wall.

"Ah, I was just on my way to the kitchens, but this seems to be priority," Dumbledore sighed and looked at each student. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Well, I'm sure that they can tell you. All I did was help accompany Florence here. As you can see she…um…well…"

"I look like a bloody carrot!" Bertha yelled, starting to cry again and not at all minding her language in front of Dumbledore.

"Ah, I see," Dumbledore nodded, examining Bertha a little. "Well, I'd like to see all of you in my office. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Miss Evans."

"Sure, Professor. Sorry to hold up your…snacking," Lily chuckled.

"Not a problem at all, Miss Evans. In fact, it's a good thing you stopped me. My 'snacking' won't be very good in the long run," Dumbledore said, and winked. Lily smiled politely and said good evening. As she walked away she passed by James who refused to look her in the eye.

Lily nearly skipped down the corridor carrying on with her business while a small feeling of satisfaction coursed through her body for upsetting James so. She didn't want to consider it payback for his little shows with Florence, but she certainly considered it a long time coming.

* * *

Oh, and the dancing lessons in this chapter didn't fully come from the GoF movie. To be perfectly honest, I would hope that dancing lesson of some sort would be offered if a formal dance was required. Also the reasons for this ball are for a rather relevant reason. In a time of war, containing some sort of normalcy is important and that will be emphasized in the next chapter. Next chapter is the ball which shall be rather interesting…Please read and review, readers! 


	14. The Christmas Ball

A/N: Yes, I know…it has been over 2 months since I've updated. You guys can kill me later.

* * *

_**X The Christmas Ball**_

"You know, Moony," Sirius started, "you're a dreadful dancer.

"Well excuse me, twinkle toes," Remus snorted. "I'm _trying _to learn. Sorry if my parents didn't drag me to fancy dinner parties at a young age like yours."

"Don't be sorry. Be incredibly _blessed_ that you didn't have a load of nutters like my parents drag you around to fancy fucking dinners and nearly beat you if you were to say, 'What's wrong with Muggles?'" Sirius said.

Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter were relaxing in their dorm room. Peter was munching on something he stole from the kitchens the night before while James looked through a pile of books Remus had checked out yesterday afternoon (James and Sirius didn't dare walk in there together as long as Madame Pince was breathing) about Hogwarts. Finding a detailed map of Hogwarts was surprisingly difficult especially for their new goal: a map of Hogwarts for their personal use, full of secret passageways they've discovered over the years from their night-time escapades. It was an idea Peter had come up with a few weeks ago.

_Another night, another time where one or more of the Marauders were waiting outside staff members office for something or another. It happened to be Sirius, James, and Peter that night waiting outside of Filch's office because they had charmed the suits of amour to wrestle, drawing a crowd of perhaps fifty students in the entrance hall._

_"You know," Peter grumbled. "I wish there was some sort of way to find out when somebody…like a teacher or something…was coming towards us."_

_"What?" Sirius said, not really paying attention to what his blond companion was saying._

_"What I mean is…how wicked would it be if we had like…say…a map or something of the school?" Peter started again. "And with it we could somehow know where the teachers were in the castle so we could pull off pranks without them noticing."_

_Peter obviously didn't notice the gleam behind James' glasses and Sirius' grey eyes when he continued with, "Um…I guess it's a stupid idea."_

_"No Peter…you're a genius!" James exclaimed. _

_Peter's face suddenly had a large smile on it. "A genius? ME?"_

_"Don't let it get to your head, your genius may break and spill all over the nice shiny floor. We wouldn't want that," Siurius said back. "I don't help clean up bodily fluids until the second date, mate." Peter's smile wilted. _

"I need help with the Z formation, Sirius, not this bit," Remus complained.

"Sure thing, sweet cakes," Sirius chirped.

"Oh God, you aren't going to pinch his bum, are you?" James groaned, flipping quickly through the pages.

"You'd like to see that, wouldn't you, James?" Sirius chortled.

"Found a good one!" James shouted and the boys surrounded a tattered old book, which must have been over three hundred years old. "It has everything. Even a few of the passageways. This is wicked!"

"Remus is drawing it, right?" Peter asked.

"This is going to take me ages. AGES," Remus said. "I'll need to get so many ink wells, not to mention the perfect piece of parchment…and we'll need to brush up on some spells to protect it, and—"

"Slow down, Moony," Sirius snapped. "We'll be able to do it."

"But we'll probably have to go to the restricted section for a lot of it and I doubt Madame Pince will just—"

"What does that old hag have to do with anything? We'll sneak in using the cloak," James shrugged.

Remus sighed. "Fine…but this is still going to take ages…AGES."

"We'll be able to do it. We've done a lot harder things than make a _map, _Moony," James scoffed. "And when we finish it, just imagine what we could do with it."

"But James…a _tracking system?_ We can't be _too _ambitious," Remus said reasonably.

"We'll figure it out, Moony, so don't get your little pink knickers in a twist," James groaned.

Sirius clapped his hands together once. "Now, Moony. From the top. We shall dance the night away!"

"As long as we don't start flamenco dancing, alright," Remus said.

"Damn. Peter, nix the dress," Sirius ordered.

"No, I think Remus in a dress would be dreadfully charming," said a female voice.

The boys' heads snapped towards the source of the voice and James saw a very amused-looking Lily Evans leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded across her chest. Her hair was a bit stringy and almost looked brown, suggesting that she had just taken a shower and hadn't bothered to dry her hair.

"What are you doing here, Evans?" Sirius said suavely. "Looking for someone to have fun with while Alexander is out and about at little Ravenclaw orgies? Because—"

"Excuse me? Orgies?" Lily shrieked.

"Sweet Merlin, Evans!" Sirius said in a surprised manner. "You've been at this school how long and you don't know about the ritualistic Ravenclaw orgies?"

"Can't say I do. And I'm going to have to go with no on your previous offer, Black," Lily said then turned to Remus. "Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to the prefects briefly."

"You know, you may want to knock next time, Evans. We could have been getting dressed or something. Just because you're prefect doesn't mean you can just barge into people's rooms like you own the place," James said.

"Something tells me you would be honoured if I caught sight of your bits, Potter," Lily said smoothly and walked out of the room. Remus merely looked back, shrugged, and walked after her.

James sighed and continued looking through a book.

"I don't know why you like her so much, mate," Sirius mumbled. "She can be a right foul bitch. She's been getting on my nerves more than usual."

The boys had received detention with Filch for the infamous carrot incident. He hardly thought they deserved such a punishment—during their meeting with Dumbledore, James had half-expected the headmaster to slip him a Galleon, thanking him for showing Jorkins a thing or two. The news of the incident had spread quickly, just like most news at Hogwarts did, and most of his, as Remus liked to call them, "admirers" congratulated him.

His newfound annoyance for Lily came in waves, however. Sirius believed James was a great tosser ("You have no bollocks," he said) for thinking so much about one girl despite him snogging another during his free time. James was starting to believe Sirius was right. Not about his lack of testicles, of course…

**XXX**

Severus hated spending long amounts of time maintaining his hair. He just got out of the shower and had a green towel around his waist as he tried to comb out the various tangles in his shoulder length hair. As he tried to remove a particularly difficult knot, Demetrius stormed into the bathroom already decked out in pristine wizarding robes of dark teal, shoved Severus aside, and checked himself out in the mirror.

"Excuse you," Severus snapped.

Demetrius ran his hand through his hair one last time before turning towards Severus and said, "So, who're you going with?"

"Nobody," Severus muttered.

Demetrius snickered. "You may find a girl there."

Severus snorted. "Sure. And I'm assuming you're taking Amelia?"

With a high pitched laugh, Demetrius managed to respond, "Of course not. She was just a short-term thing, Severus. We both got tired of each other I think. I chucked her this morning."

Severus thought Demetrius' treatment of Amelia rather cruel, but his pity for the girl didn't last longer than a second. Demetrius was certainly one to use people to get what he wants, and he usually always got it, and Demetrius knew it. It was, after all, one of the most common of Slytherin traits. Despite that characteristic, he was still a rather silly young man; spontaneous and somewhat immature.

"Have you practised your dance steps?" Demetrius asked.

"No, there was no point," Severus said.

"No point? You do know that Slughorn is expecting every Slytherin to dance for at least one song right?" Demetrius smirked, amused by the rarely seen dumbfounded look on Severus' pale face. "Well, best get to it. By the way, I can see one of your ribs, mate. Not that…I was…staring at your chest or anything…"

"Erm…"

Demetrius left and Severus calmly walked up to the closed door of the bathroom, took a deep breath, and banged his head against it…hard; neat hair became a long forgotten mission.

**XXX**

"Like shit."

"Oh shut up, Marlene."

"A pile of flaming shit."

"I'll turn you into a pile of flaming shit if you don't shut up. You look lovely, Marlene."

"Lies, Alice…lies!"

Lily lay on her four-poster bed in nothing but an old shirt and knickers due to the heat in their room. Apparently, the house-elves were instructed to make all of Gryffindor tower into a furnace, so the girls got dressed in the cool bathroom adjacent to their dorm. Alice and Marlene were bickering in the small space while Emmeline applied makeup to her face.

"I look like a chocolate cake with fluffy green icing!" Marlene cried. "Luminus will be appalled. I can see his face now…"

"Oh please. Stop seeing everything half-empty, Marlene," Alice chided.

"Lily! Get over here and tell me your opinion," Marlene barked. Alice sighed in frustration.

"You look really nice, Marlene," Lily said truthfully as she walked towards them. She honestly didn't know what Marlene was so concerned about. It was only Luminus. He probably wouldn't have cared if she wore a chicken costume. In fact, that might turn him on a bit, knowing Luminus—he was a strange one.

"Conspiracy, I tell you! Conspiracy!" Marlene said, pointing her index finger in the air. "I'm getting out of this room to get a real opinion that _isn't_ sugar-coated!"

With that, Marlene stormed out of the room. As she opened the door, the loud sounds of giggling and panicked girls crowed across the Gryffindor girl's tower were clearly heard for a moment until the door slammed shut.

"The painters must be coming soon," Alice muttered. "Well, the bathroom is all yours, Lil."

Lily grabbed her dress from the wardrobe and rushed into the bathroom adjacent to their dorm. After struggling with the sleeves for a bit she took a good look at the robes once they were on her: an ocean-coloured, knee-length, thin-strapped dress. The garb cascaded into loose pleats from the hips down and had a printed organdie bodice. Though it would wrinkle easily, she knew her parents must have spent an awful lot of money for such a nice dress. After hearing a knock on the door resembling Alice's, she quickly magicked her hair into a bun.

Alice pounded on the door once more and Lily practically launched herself out of the door.

"Merlin, Alice," Lily mumbled as Alice and Emmeline gasped.

"Lily, you look fantastic!" Emmeline said excitedly. "Where ever did you get such a dress?"

"My parents got it for me after they found out I overlooked it on the list of things we needed for school. I was so stressed about my O.W.L.s that I must have forgotten it," Lily explained as she quickly made her way over to her trunk to fish out some makeup and applied it rather carelessly and she asked Alice to zip the back of her dress.

The other girls had on their dresses as well: Alice wore a classic black long-sleeved dress with soft pleats while Emmeline wore a blood-red dress with a lace front neckline and lace sleeves. They both looked fantastic in Lily's opinion, though Emmeline's made her even look even thinner and taller than usual.

"When is Alexander meeting you?" Emmeline asked

"I think he said seven-thirty," Lily said, putting on her high-heeled shoes that she had charmed to temporarily match the blue of her dress.

"Lily...it's seven-twenty-five," Alice said.

"Fancy that! Time flies, eh?" Lily giggled like a loon. She felt a little knot at the pit of her stomach as she stood up and walked towards the door. "I'm meeting him in the entrance hall. I'll see you lot later."

Alice and Emmeline wished Lily luck as she manoeuvred around giggling girls congregating on the stairs magicking their hair, visiting neighbouring rooms, and one who was looking into a hand mirror and pushing the nub of her nose up and down with her finger, as if trying to change its shape.

After managing to escape the cough-inducing hairspray and younger girls pouting about not being able to attend the ball, Lily made her way into the common room and out Gryffindor tower. Compared to her room, the corridors were cold and damp, though the decorations were still exquisite and she couldn't wait to see what the Great Hall looked like. The decorations even brought out romance in several Hogwarts students, notably the mistletoe in various places around the castle. Of course, it also brought unwanted company. She ran into several acquaintances from various houses who complimented her outfit and that little knot at the pit of her stomach lurched once more when she saw Alexander waiting in the crowded entrance hall surrounded by some other Ravenclaw boys and girls. Alexander looked up from who he was talking to and spotted her. Her heart leapt a little when she saw him walk towards her with a big smile on his face.

"Lily! Wow, you look…wow," he said, looking her up and down in a respectful manner.

Lily felt her ears burn but didn't look away from him. "You look nice, too." He wore rather expensive-looking black robes and brown trousers with shiny black shoes.

After a tongue-tied moment or two he bowed. "Well, would you like to enter?"

Lily took his hand and they entered the Great Hall. The sight of it caused Lily to gasp audibly. Amongst all the holly, the gigantic Christmas tree in the far corner of the room, and golden bells, the prefects' ideas were transformed into decorations far beyond their expectations. She looked up saw silver ornaments hanging weightlessly in the air and shimmering as light reflected off of them.

"You all worked really hard on the decoration ideas!" Alexander exclaimed, looking around the room. "My mum would have a fit. She's a party planner, you know."

After discussing the décor of the large room, they soon got settled at one of the many tables near the middle of the room but off to the side slightly (Alexander said he preferred the lighting in that section). Lily soon identified her roommates and Alexander, and invited them to sit. Alice and Emmeline joined her while Alexander introduced Lily to a few of his friends who seemed to take to Lily immediately. Marlene and Luminus were invited to sit as well but the former convinced Marlene to sit with his friends.

As Alice and Emmeline mingled with some Ravenclaw boys and girls, Lily suddenly noticed the Marauders were sitting at a table with their dates a mere table away. She caught sight of James staring at her rather overtly and seeming to ignore Florence, who was chatting a mile a minute. Her face felt warm as she quickly looked away.

"Something wrong?" Alexander asked Lily, noticing the flustered look.

"Oh!" Lily said. "No, nothing at all!"

Alexander grinned and smoothly wrapped his arm around her waist. She immediately felt a mixture of relief and panic spread from his hand on her waist to the rest of her body.

He suddenly bent his neck down and whispered, "Potter is staring at us."

Lily turned her head slightly and sure enough, he was still staring but quickly looked away this time and tinkered with the white tablecloth.

"Let him stare," Lily said finally. "Even Potter can't ruin this night for me. Unless he burns the place down or something…which I wouldn't put past him."

She then glanced over her shoulder once more but James wasn't looking this time. Instead, Sirius began waving wildly at her and to her horror, grabbed his date's hand and walked over.

"Evans, I know that I'm gorgeous, but you don't you think it's rude to keep staring at me while you're with your date?" Sirius simpered. He was obviously drunk. His date, a very thin blonde girl Lily didn't strongly recognize, was smiling like crazy and looked as though she was in heaven. "I don't want Alvia—"

"Its Olivia, Sirius," chirped girl, who didn't really seem as though she would care if he called her Bartholomew.

"Right. Don't want Olive to feel uncomfortable, do we?"

"Sirius, perform a sobering charm on yourself, please," Lily requested.

"Where's your holiday spirit, Evans?" Sirius chuckled; Olivia did too, like a little blonde parrot. The image of Sirius in a pirate outfit suddenly felt very appropriate.

"That girl ate it. I can see it in her stomach," Alexander whispered, tickling her ear and causing Lily to giggle.

"Sirius, how about I promise not to stare at you again for the rest of the night. Sound good?" Lily suggested.

"Perfect!" Sirius smiled.

"Great!" Alexander piped up. "Now leave."

Olivia gasped and muttered, "How rude!" to Sirius before he got bored and strode back to their table.

All of a sudden, the light music playing came to a halt and the chattering voices became silent. Seconds later, Dumbledore walked into the hall followed by many men and a few women dressed in smart robes. Scattered whispered broke through the crowd as Bartemius Crouch walked behind Dumbledore with his signature serious expression on his face, followed by a stout, tight-lipped woman who Lily knew to be the Minister of Magic.

The room quieted down when Dumbledore stood on a stage in the far front of the Great Hall. "Welcome to the Christmas ball, everyone," he said, and the hall broke out with applause and cat calls. "Before we get started with dinner and the fabulous activities we have planned, I'd like to introduce a couple of distinguished guests. We have many hard-working members of the Ministry of Magic here tonight!" Applause broke out once more and several Ministry officials stood up and bowed. "But with me here on stage none other than Bartemius Crouch who is devising new methods of keeping out world 'safe and secure' through the current chaos of the Wizarding community. These new methods should be made public by next year."

Another round of applause spread across the room until Dumbledore raised his hands to halt them. "And of course, we have our lovely Minister of Magic: Millicent Bagnold!"

The woman rose out of her chair and bowed as well, the stern look never leaving her face despite the clapping. "Millicent has taken time out of her very busy schedule to be here with us tonight!

"You may all be wondering why Hogwarts is hosting such an event. The idea was suggested by the Minister herself. She believed it would show the strength of the students and faculty and others of our world during these difficult times."

Lily noticed that Dumbledore didn't exactly look enthusiastic as he explained the reasons for the Minister's presence at the ball.

"And with that, choose your meal and enjoy!" Dumbledore announced as menus appeared on the table.

**XXX**

Regulus and his girlfriend were already kissing deeply before either of them started eating their dinner. Narcissa and Bellatrix were deep into conversation with one another while the rest of the sixth-year Slytherin boys and their dates started to eat the dinner that appeared in front of them at their command. He couldn't deny it: he felt like a great idiot being the only boy at the table without a date. Narcissa and Bellatrix's significant others were both already out of school, leaving both Blacks loyal to their significant others and without actual dates. But they didn't seem to care: Bellatrix was already very mature and a little older than most in her year and enjoyed having an older boyfriend, while Lucius made Narcissa feel more serious and less wanton.

There Severus was, eating his food rather slowly and not having a good time at all. He had known this would be a disaster, and the fact that the dancing was right after the dinner was even worse. Who the hell would he dance with? What would happen if he just…left?

After what seemed like forever, the main course was swiftly magicked away from the table and replaced with deserts. After eating a few sweets, the Slytherins males (sans Severus) suddenly got up with their dates and decided to dance while Bellatrix and Narcissa suddenly needed to reapply make-up. Severus began to read a small book he had brought with him. Unfortunately that didn't last long, as he was patted very hard on the back by a certain walrus-moustached professor.

"Severus, my boy!" exclaimed Slughorn who seemed to be taking a few minutes' break after talking to just about every Ministry official in the building. "Why aren't you dancing out there with the rest of the Slytherins?"

"No date," Severus answered blandly.

"No date?" Slughorn clarified.

"No date."

"Are you certain?"

"I'm rather certain, professor."

"I see."

_About time,_ Severus thought.

"Well, you're just going to have to find one, my boy! Don't want to make Slytherin look bad, do you? Have you introduced yourself to any of the Ministry officials?"

"No, I haven't, Professor," Severus mumbled.

Slughorn gave a deep sigh and his moustache moved with the exhaling breath. "Remember what I said in the common room and many times before: Connections are very important! I expect to get a report back from one of them mentioning your name!"

Slughorn tottered away and Severus sighed and looked across the room in a bored manner until his eyes fell upon auburn hair in an elegant bun and he knew that it was Lily immediately. She seemed to be enjoying herself as she smiled and performed her minuet steps perfectly with her date, but what he noticed most of all wasn't her proper step.

"Evans looks good, eh?" Evan said when he appeared back at the table and took a quick sip from a hipflask. He could smell the whiskey on his breath he gave Severus a wide smile. He didn't respond but for once he agreed with him and he couldn't look away from her, nor did he wish to. Suddenly Amelia Bulstrode walked up to the boys' table and came to a stop when she stood next to Severus. She wore dress of royal purple and surprisingly wore little makeup, making her look clean and proper, which was a lot better than her usual appearance.

"Would you like to dance?" she asked.

Severus wasn't sure he had heard her properly. "I beg your pardon?"

"I said, would you like to dance?" she asked again through gritted teeth. Severus just looked at her with wide eyes. "I don't have time for this, Severus. I look like a sodding idiot not dancing with anyone!"

"Well why me? Why not…Evan? There has to be a catch," Severus sputtered.

"Just get your scrawny little arse out of that chair and dance with me," Amelia hissed and yanked on his arm and pulled him to the dance floor. She immediately started to lead and he was finding it difficult to find the right step. He had thought it a ridiculous waste of time to practise on his own time, due to his own ignorance and assumption that he wouldn't dance with anyone anyway. After a stumble or two he got the hang of it and managed to only step on Amelia's foot thrice. In one distracted moment he looked around him to see who else was dancing near him and he felt his heart leap into his throat when he noticed Lily and Alexander right over Amelia's shoulder, Lily facing him. Her eyebrows were raised as their eyes met for a quick second; she was obviously surprised that he was dancing with anyone.

After a while he got used to the dancing, he began to lead slightly which seemed to surprise Amelia. He couldn't ignore, however, the looks he got from the other Hogwarts students dancing. Even McGonagall's bespectacled eyes widened when she saw him (while she was dancing with Dumbledore). Was the sight of Severus making physical contact with someone of the female sex that extraordinary?

The music finally stopped and his body felt a bit tingly at the feel of perspiration on his forehead. It was probably the most exercise he got had in months. He walked back to his table with Amelia and flopped down on his chair.

"Well, that could have been worse," Amelia said with a slight smile on her face. "You aren't that horrid…a bit horrid at parts…but not _that_ horrid."

"Thanks," Severus frowned.

**XXX**

James was sipping his water after an exhausting dance number with Florence but rather than relaxing he grew angry watching Lily and Alexander dancing together and being the centre of attention. He had stared at her too long earlier and Florence eventually caught him and wasn't very happy about it. She looked great in her long-sleeved white dress robes but she certainly couldn't surpass Lily's beauty. She really looked perfect: her ruby-red lipstick and the blush gracing the apples of her cheeks complimented her innocent freckles, and her dress showed off her nice frame. Alexander just killed it. James thought he was a giant pimple just waiting to be popped.

"—Don't you think?"

"Huh? What?" James snapped out of his trance.

"Jamesie, were you even listening to a single word I was saying?" Florence glared. He was almost positive she growled.

"Right…you were talking about how ugly Sarah's hair looked," James said uncertainly.

"That, Jamesie, was what I pointed out nearly ten minutes ago!" Florence said. Sirius laughed, still smashed, and his date still looked so excited that James thought she would wet herself any second. "I've moved on to discuss how ghastly Sadie's shoes are."

"Positively enthralling," James drawled and took another sip of water. He continued to watch Lily move across the floor. "Did you know that Evans claimed she has never done ballroom dancing of any nature? She must have been lying."

"Why do you say that?" Florence asked.

"I mean…look at her. It's like she does a waltz every bloody morning or something!" James said.

"Why are you looking at _her,_ anyway?" Florence snapped. "You're supposed to be paying attention to _me."_

"He must have charmed his shoes. A great oaf like him couldn't possibly—"

"Jamesie…"

"And he's hardly handsome. Look at his ears! The fucking wanker is probably part elephant."

"Jamesie."

"And since when are his hands allowed to go _there_ during a waltz?"

"Jamesie!"

"I bet he hasn't even got any—"

"JAMESIE!"

"WHATSIE?" James yelled back.

Florence simply glared at him again and threw down her napkin onto the table. "I need some fresh air." With that she nearly marched out of the Great Hall with her hands balled up in fists and the bun on the top of her head come loose; her stance alone made students and guests scurry out of her way.

"It must be that time of the month, eh?" James said to Remus and his date, Molly, stopping their long discussion on classic Muggle literature and its effect (or lack thereof, as Remus argued) on Wizarding society and why it should be relevant.

"Well, Potter, maybe it's the fact that you completely ignored her little rants about everyone's attire. Or maybe it was the fact that you were talking about Lily and her date when it, quite frankly, is none of your business and the fact that you're on a date with a girl who isn't Lily. No woman wants to hear about some other woman while on a date. That's just common sense, isn't it?" Molly asked matter-of-factly.

"Molly is right, James," Remus concurred.

"Stuff it, will you?" James snapped.

Sirius laughed again.

"You too," James added to Sirius.

Suddenly, Peter and Penelope came walking back towards the table (the latter limping due to Peter's lack of dancing know-how) with excited expressions.

"We just saw Stubby Boardman of the Hobgoblins!" Peter panted. "He looks absolutely wicked!"

"Yeah, and his band may start to set up soon!" Penelope said. "Stubby is so…tasty! His arms are so…amazing! Oh, oh! And his hair!"

Peter frowned slightly but quickly became pleased when he saw the deserts in the middle of the table and lunged for a chocolate sweet, and soon Penelope joined him.

_Typical, _James thought.

**XXX**

Dancing with Alexander ended up much better than dancing with Remus during that hour-long dancing lesson. He was a terribly good dancer and it felt like they were _gliding _across the floor. He didn't seem to look away from her face once. It was certainly romantic and she felt so feminine, yet so conscious of her face and what her lips and nostrils were doing. Before they knew it, the music ended and Alexander gave Lily a quick kiss on the cheek. She blushed and excused herself to the bathroom.

The large bathroom was extremely crowded; not so much the stalls as the mirror space. There was one girl crying hysterically with her makeup running down her face while another group of girls were giggling and squealing over, apparently, running into the bassist of the Hobgoblins. A few fourth-years that Lily recognized were huddled in the corner lighting fags. She was about to say something about it when she was accidentally shoved along and decided to get out of there as soon as possible.

Lily found a vacant space in the mirror and tried to straighten out her bun when she saw a livid Florence reapplying her makeup next to her.

"Good evening, Florence," Lily said politely, but nearly took back the kind gesture when the girl with brown-blonde hair sighed obnoxiously.

"Why hello, Lily," Florence muttered.

"You look very nice," Lily said. "Gorgeous robes."

"Well, you look nice, too," Florence said jerkily as she fluttered her left eye a bit after she applied eyeliner to her bottom lid. She straightened up and glared at her reflection. "Everyone seems to think so. Especially a certain someone who shouldn't."

"Huh?" Lily said.

Florence didn't bother to respond and instead walked past Lily and out of the bathroom. Before she even had time to be concerned about Florence's behaviour, she smiled as she saw Alice enter the bathroom looking rather happy.

"'Lo, Lils!" Alice greeted her. "Guess who I just finished talking to?"

"Who?"

"The head of the Auror Department from the Ministry of Magic!" Alice exclaimed. Lily grinned: Alice had wanted to be an Auror for as long as she could remember.

"And guess who was also talking to him?" Alice said, practically jumping up and down.

"Who?"

"FRANK!" Alice screamed. Several girls in the bathroom stared at her; even the blubbering girl stopped her crying to see what the hubbub was about.

"Erm…let's discuss this outside, shall we?" Lily suggested. The girls stood in the chilly corridor as Alice continued.

"To make things short, apparently the head of the department is family friends of the Longbottoms."

"Where was Fairblossom?" Lily asked.

"Who cares? But I was walking by and Frank said, 'Actually, sir, Alice is a friend of mine who is brilliant in Defence Against the Dark Arts'. So then Frank introduced me and we started talking and the man seemed really interested in both of us and guess what the best part is?" Alice squealed again.

"Dunno, what?"

"He asked us if we wanted to go visit the training centre over break!" Alice said breathlessly. "That means me, spending an entire day with Frank Longbottom without…Fairblossom to ruin anything."

"That sounds great, Alice!" Lily said as the friends walked back into the busy Great Hall.

"Oh, and— Ah!" Alice gasped as she found herself face to face with white hair and a large belly.

"Lily, m'dear!"

Lily looked down to see Professor Slughorn right in front of her with Bartemius Crouch next to him. "Retrieve your date! I want you to meet my old friend and student Bartemius Crouch!"

"Yes, sir," Lily said. Alice promised she would continue her story later and Lily went to find Alexander. He was eating a small tart when she found him. Lily explained to him what Slughorn requested.

"Slughorn is obsessed with you," he pointed out and reached for her hand.

"Oh stop that. He's a grown man…and rather elderly at that." Lily grimaced as they walked closer to the pair. Slughorn spotted her and stood on the balls of his feet.

"Aha! So _this_ is who you attended this ball with! Mister Jacobson!" Slughorn noticed.

"Hello, sir," Alexander said with a nod.

"This, as I'm _sure_ you both know, is Bartemius Crouch," Slughorn announced. The stern raven-haired man shifted his head slightly and shook both of their hands. "Miss Evans here is one of the most gifted Potions pupils I've had in decades!"

Alexander gave Lily a quick squeeze of the hand as she looked down at the floor and blushed. "You give me too much credit, sir."

"Don't be so modest, Lily!" Slughorn tittered and turned to Crouch. "She is always so modest!"

"I see," Crouch said.

Slughorn continued to talk and brag to Crouch about Lily in every way possible until a loud guitar riff blared through the room.

"Lily, that must be the Hobgoblins!" Alexander said quickly.

"O ho! That must be that popular band. I suppose you'll want to dance with your date and—" Slughorn started but was interrupted by Lily.

"You're absolutely right, Professor! Nice to meat you, Mister Crouch!" And with that, Alexander and Lily headed towards the front stage as fast as they could (Lily complained about running in heeled shoes). More and more students surrounded the stage, dragging friends and dates. There was a large, silver and dark blue shimmering curtain in front of the band at the moment and Professor McGonagall walked on stage decked out in long-sleeved tartan robes, with her hair in a very tight bun. She pushed her glasses further up on her nose and read from a small piece of parchment and performed a voice-amplifying spell.

"Our lovely prefects and Head Girl and Boy have chosen the following band to perform at our event tonight and they happily accepted Hogwarts' invitation. Thus I am pleased—"

Suddenly a red rose flew on stage at McGonagall's feet followed by a very loud, "SHOW ME YOUR CLAWS, CAT WOMAN. MEOW!" and then a timid, "I don't think you should drink anymore firewhiskey tonight."

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Black," McGongall said sternly, looking at a very specific part of the crowd. "Anyway. Hogwarts is pleased to present…the Hobgoblins."

Lily's heart pounded in her chest. Everything was going exactly as planned…besides Sirius' outburst, of course. The curtains were pulled and there they were, the band decked out in the coolest and most trendy of popular wizard fashion: ripped robes and shirts and Muggle leather pants with long shaggy hair. For a Wizarding band, Lily actually enjoyed them. In some ways they sounded similar to some of Lily's favourite rock and pop bands. They had catchy songs, attractive members, and were fun to dance to.

A man with long black hair and a dazzling smile used his wand and made his voice echo across the room. "'Ello, I'm Stubby Boardman. And we're the Hobgoblins."

They hardly needed an introduction. Several girls were swooning and screaming. A pair of knickers even made their way up on one of the edge of the stage.

Before they knew it, the band began to play one of their newest songs that was constantly on the wireless. A few groups of adults and ministry employees left the Great Hall to escape the noise and drink tea and warm cider in the entrance hall. Guitars and basses hit perfect notes while trumpets and bagpipes blared as tambourines and other odd take-offs of Muggle instruments played. Wizards and Muggles really weren't extremely different when it came to dancing. Dates were dancing wildly with each other; dateless girls were pulling their friends onto the dance-floor. Wallflowers simply watched and pointed at different couples and many laughed, their figures dark through the multicoloured light that played across the dancing area. Girls let their hair out of restricting upsweeps and boys loosened their ties and yet those simple actions changed everyone from acting sophisticated and proper to behaving their own age and letting go.

Lily and Alexander were no exceptions; Lily took her hair out of her bun and began to move a little. Though she always felt a bit awkward when she started dancing, she always lost her shyness after a few seconds went by. She started with a simple sway of the hips, then her legs started to have a mind of their own. Her arms began to move with the rest of her body and her hands grabbed onto Alexander's and pulled him towards her. Their bodies were close. Certainly closer than they were during the minuet. They spun in circles and moved against each other in a way that would probably make McGonagall blush, but they were rather chaste compared to many of the other dancers. A few teachers actually began to split up couples when things became too provocative.

She waved her arms, moved her legs, pressed close against her partner; the multicoloured lights and hundreds of people surrounding her became blurs as the music sped up. She just couldn't seem to stop dancing as songs began and ended and began all over again. Did the music have a spell on her? Or was it Alexander's mere presence that caused her to have so much fun and dance like a loon? The fast-paced songs went on for over an hour until they finally stopped.

The students cheered, screamed, threw more articles of clothing and random items on stage…then they started playing again, but not their fun rock and roll songs. It was a slow song.

She felt sweaty and totally unromantic, but Alexander didn't seem to mind and swiftly put his arms around her waist as she put hers around his shoulders. Lily gave him a warm smile, which he returned and rested her head on his shoulder, admiring the lyrics of the slow song.

_Your bated breath and bated mind_

_We were so beautifully intertwined_

_And now we're on this natural high_

_Oh that look you gave me made me die_

Alexander felt so genuine…it felt so natural to be with him. What were the sudden feelings for Alexander, she wondered? They had hardly spoken outside of class anytime before. Her head was spinning. Was this just lust? Did she really feel something special for him that she had never felt with any other boys? Oh, she had had crushes in the past—as a little first- or second-year she always found herself attracted to the older students. But as she got older and as the other girls became more interested in boys, her urge to have a significant other dwindled. Schoolwork and platonic friends were her priority. It was terribly awkward when she became a teenager and found herself attracting people, especially boys, who she hardly knew or conversed with. Marlene, usually blunt in nature, said that it all started when she grew breasts and a bum. She was a popular girl; it would be silly not to admit that. Some said it was her intelligence and kindness, others said it was her looks, but whatever the reasons, Lily didn't understand.

When boys asked her out she usually politely turned them down either because she had no idea who they were or they seemed more interested in what she was wearing than what she had to offer. James Potter, of course, was entirely different. She had thought his constant begging and pleading was all a charade to grate her nerves. He was, after all, a Marauder. Now, she honestly had no idea what the boy felt for her. His behaviour baffled her to the point of exhaustion.

There was a sudden emptiness in her ears. The band played their final song and applause rang through the crowd. There was more screaming as girls tried to climb on stage and get an autograph…or rip off some part of Stubby's clothing or body.

She Alexander's hand clutch onto her waist slightly as they manoeuvred out of the crowded room, all the while greeting acquaintances and making small talk, until they finally reached the damp entrance hall. The cool air chilled her perspiration-covered neck and her messy hair.

"How about we go somewhere for a second?" Alexander suggested as they walked up the marble staircase, pulling her towards a vacant corridor fifty feet away from the commotion of students talking and returning to their common rooms.

"But the curfew…it's ten to twelve and all students must be in their respective common rooms by—" Lily started, but was shushed by Alexander's index finger covering her lips. She immediately stopped.

"We'll get back by then," he told her quietly. She slowly began to smile as she felt his hands grip her hips through the fabric of her now-wrinkled dress and he gently pushed her against the cold wall. She shivered as the stone touched her warm shoulder blades and the back of her calves.

One hand moved away from her waist to the side of her neck and she soon moved her hands to his back. Their faces were inches apart; both were breathing somewhat heavily in the dark, cold corridor. They could barely see each other's features; only simple outlines from the far-away torch illuminating a different part of the corridor.

Lily felt her brain become fuzzy and excited at the same time as she _felt_ Alexander's face move closer to hers and he slowly tilted his head.

She was afraid to move for fear of bumping heads or poking his eye out with her nose, so she kept her head completely still as his soft lips gently pressed and puckered against hers. After a few seconds she began to pucker her lips back, hoping she was doing all right and wouldn't cause her date to pull his head up and walk away with a look of displeasure. She worried about how her breath smelled, her hair, how her nose was positioned, everything, until he pulled away.

He grinned and looked at his shoes nervously.

This time Lily gave Alexander a nervous kiss of her own. His lips began to move with hers and he even began to open his mouth slightly but not enough to startle her. She felt herself sigh as the kiss felt more natural and not as awkward. She didn't think about her breathing so much or what her eyes were doing or how her hands gripped his shoulders. She was lost in the kiss. Her first _real _kiss. And as their kisses became bolder and they became more audible, Lily realised that the Christmas ball was officially a success.

**XXX**

Though many Gryffindors were exhausted and retired to their own dorms after the ball, there were still some (notably the Marauders), who were far from tired. For them, the party was hardly over.

Sirius ran down the boys' staircase and into the common room with a box of firewhiskey that he claimed to have been "saving for the perfect opportunity". James knew that Sirius' goal was to get, if possible, even more shit-faced than he was _during_ the ball…and he would most likely succeed.

Olivia wasn't, for the first time all night, all over Sirius like a cheap coat. Instead, she was in her room. Earlier, a Slytherin boy had vomited on her (the Slytherin claimed it was the shellfish) as she and Sirius were dancing during a slow song. Sirius, as he had been doing for most of the ball, laughed—which caused Olivia to burst into tears and leave the Great Hall. Sirius hardly seemed concerned.

James sighed and wondered where on Earth Lily was. It was past twelve o'clock and she wasn't in the common room. He tried to crane his neck around the crowded room as Florence kissed his neck. Apparently she had forgiven him, and had suggested a lovely snog in the common room. That was fine enough…snogging was snogging and it never hurts to snog an attractive woman either. He _was _male, after all. But as Florence was practically nibbling his neck off, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to more important things: Like how amazing Lily looked when she was dancing with elephant ears, or the way Lily smiled when elephant ears touched her, or what he would eat for dinner tomorrow once he got home.

"Jamesie," Florence moaned and began to kiss his lips. Yes, yes, pucker, tongue swirl, lip nibble, how predictable Florence was!

"How about we go back up to your room, eh?" she suggested as she cradled his cheek. "We'll have a party of our own."

Somehow, when he used that line to other girls, it sounded much better when it was said to others than when it was said to him. Now it sounded rather pathetic even by James' standards…which weren't very high to begin with.

"I don't know, Florence," James said as we took a swig of firewhiskey. "Not in the mood, to be honest."

"Come on! We'll have fun. Remember last night?" Florence said as she tickled James' thigh. Oh, he remembered last night. Every long, nearly disrobed moment of it.

"I'm pretty tired from the dancing, Florence," James tried to reason.

The sultry look on Florence's face turned into a frown as she quickly stood up, towering over James' sitting figure. She scoffed and shook her head. "I bet you wouldn't mind if I suddenly had dark red hair and green eyes, would you?"

"Pardon?" James chortled. "What are you talking about."

Florence suddenly grabbed James' hand and dragged him out of the warm (and soon to be full of drunkards) Gryffindor common room and into the brisk corridor and in front of the Fat Lady's portrait. She looked him straight in the eye and didn't blink once.

"I forgave you earlier for not paying attention to me when I was talking. I forgave you when you were raving on about Evans and her date. And I forgave you for being smart with me. I can't forgive you for this," she cried.

"What the fuck did I do?" James frowned.

"I'll ask you again, James. How about we go up to your room?" Florence said tightly.

"Florence…I'm honestly not in the mood," James insisted.

"I said, 'how about we go up to your room?'" she repeated.

He didn't answer.

Florence shook her head again and this time she smiled, albeit, it wasn't a friendly one.

"If you had to pick between me or Evans…who would you pick?" Florence asked him.

"Well, Florence," James started with a smile, hoping to lighten things up. "It all depends, doesn't it? Now, if there was a singing contest or something…now, little do many know, Evans isn't the best singer I've heard. Just being honest. Alas—"

"What I mean, Jamesie," Florence interrupted, "is, if you had to date me or Evans, who would you pick?"

"You, of course!" James lied.

"Be serious, James," Florence said.

"I'm in no mood to act like him…not that it would be very hard. I'd just have to be pissed…haha?" James attempted humour.

_"Not_ Sirius Black, James!" Florence hissed.

"I already told you my answer, Florence. What do hell do you want from me?" James said, now becoming exasperated.

She sighed and faced away from him temporarily, then turned back to him. This time, a smirk crawled across her face.

"What was this, James?" she started slowly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…what do we have?"

"Erm…snogging?" James said.

"Exactly," Florence nodded. "You know…you really are a cute kid, James."

"Kid?" James said dramatically with his hand over his heart. "You're calling me a _kid?"_

"Well, you aren't an adult yet," Florence said.

"I will be legally in a few months!" James said.

"My point is…you were fun. You were fun to date for this past month or so," she said with a serious expression on her face. "But now…it's time for me to stop playing with kids and move onto men."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, James…that you're a bit of a prude," Florence said flatly.

James' mouth hung open. "A…prude? What do you mean _prude?_ I practically saw your tits last night!"

Florence crossed her arms across her chest subconsciously and the Fat Lady gasped, "How dare you speak such language to a woman!"

"James, listen: I think its time that Florence Gregory started getting involved in real relationships."

"But…I still almost saw your—"

"You're a handsome bloke," she spoke over him. "Charming…good at Quidditch…fabulous kisser…lovely wandering hands…but to be quite honest I need something more that that. And I need somebody who isn't going to be distracted," Florence said.

"So…I guess this means…" James started.

"Yes: I'm dumping you," Florence stated. "It really is for the best."

"Erm…that's alright, I guess," James said and ran his hand through his hair. "But even though you may think I'm still a kid…you'd change your mind if you saw my—"

"Anyway," Florence chuckled. "Now, mind answering the question again? No hard feelings?"

"Erm, sure," James said.

"If you had to pick between me and Evans…who would you pick?" Florence repeated.

"…Evans," James said and a somewhat relieved smile, expecting an easygoing reaction from Florence.

Oh, Florence smiled as well, but that was after she swiftly kneed James hard in the groin.

"OH FUCKING MERLIN'S FLYING UNICORN, WOMAN!" James yelled as he writhed on the floor, cupping his privates. "What was that for? I thought everything was okay!"

"Oh, everything is splendid! Right as rain!" Florence said cheerfully, smoothly said the password, made to go into the portrait hole but turned her head as the door was closing and winked, "See you around, Jamesie."

**XXX**

Severus lay in bed ready to go to sleep as soon as the band ended. What a night it was! He eventually began to converse with the Black sisters after the minuet and through them, ended up talking to quite a few Ministry officials. The Blacks, being such a well knownwell-known and old family, had so many connections to the Ministry; Severus wouldn't have been surprised to discover that they _owned_ the Minister of Magic herself. He could hardly remember the names or faces he met, but he didn't regret talking with them, though he doubted he would have a job at the Ministry. In fact, Severus still didn't know what he really wanted to do with himself once he officially left the castle next year.

He didn't dance, of course. Instead he sat with Narcissa, who didn't feel up to "dancing without her love". Though he nearly gagged, he talked civilly with Narcissa, what seemed like for once, about topics that didn't include the war or the Dark Lord. It was enjoyable and made the time surrounded by hormone-charged youth a little more bearable.

The mystery of Amelia's actions were explained in his conversation with Narcissa as well. Apparently, it was all a bet…a lousy bet. Not that he was necessarily disappointed, but the feeling of being used for something so trivial was what peeved him. Narcissa admitted that it was a lame trick and that he didn't deserve it, which made him feel slightly better.

He would be returning home tomorrow. His trunk was already packed and ready, but he certainly wasn't ready to go back to Spinner's End. He dreaded it, in fact. He didn't want to see his mother's lack of verve, he didn't want to see his father's constant look of displeasure, he didn't want to _step_ _foot_ in that excuse of a "home".

He pleaded nearly every year with his mother to allow him to stay at Hogwarts, but she always declined. Another year, another three weeks of Christmas hols spend at Spinner's End. _Fan-fucking-tastic, _Severus thought before shutting his eyes and slumbering.

* * *

A/N: Okay, important announcement. The title of my fic is going to be changed ONE LAST TIME to The Long and Winding Road. I know, this will be the third time this fic has changed its title since I started it nearly a year ago…

Anyway, as usual reviews are appreciated and encouraged :)


	15. Return to the End

A/N: Chapter 15 finally! I must say, its not the most exciting chapter but there are a few things (one scene in particular) that'll make more sense in chapter 16 and beyond.

_**X Return to the End**_

* * *

Severus felt the momentum of the great red train slow down as they rounded the last bend to the London train station. He considered the last three and half months a unique experience and he didn't want to think of it as anything more.

He couldn't help but stare at the drooling, slumbering boy across from him; his eyes were locked on the dried saliva on the corner of Regulus' mouth and the fresh trail on the dripping precariously on his lower cheek. Suddenly, Regulus released a horrid sounding snort and woke up, wiping his arm on his face. Severus' eye twitched.

"What?" Regulus asked with a stretch.

"Nothing. We're almost there," Severus replied, and gathered his scattered books and his satchel from around the compartment. Evan, Wilkes and Demetrius had left earlier to roam the corridor, leaving Severus with Regulus for a long, boring hour of watching the spit travel across the teenager's face.

The train came to a halt and Severus exited the compartment with Regulus, joining a disorganised queue to exit the train. The dozens of students around them chattered excitedly about their holiday plans or their longing to schlep around in jammies for three weeks with mugs of hot cocoa ("With marshmallows of course!" an excited Slytherin third-year said).

"So, what are you planning on doing during break?" Regulus asked as they finally got out into the dead cold December air. A light wind picked up, sending shivers through both boys and making them pull their robes tighter around them.

"Pick my nose," Severus murmured.

"Well, have fun with that. Mother and Father and I are going to France. It's going to be horribly boring," Regulus sighed. "Thankfully, I'm visiting Rachel for a day or two, which should be…"—he wiggled his eyebrows and smirked—"enjoyable, to say the least."

"You're horrible at subtleties, Regulus." Severus rolled his eyes.

"Well, would you rather me be blunt and say that I hope to get into her knickers?" Regulus snickered.

"How about not speaking at all?" Severus suggested.

Severus then retrieved his trunk, quickly said goodbye to a few Slytherins, and getting ready to find the proper train to take to get home. He had time to spare so he waited and leaned against a nearby wall, large nose in the air, observing the passing people. He scanned the reuniting families and chatting teenagers with bored interest until he caught sight of Lily and Alexander getting off the train with their trunks. They hugged and gave each what started out as a simple chaste kiss, which turned rather heated in a matter of seconds thanks to Alexander capturing her lips again when she made to turn; a few lower-years sniggered at the kissing couple. Severus felt his stomach clench until they pulled apart, both leaving though the magical barrier.

A sigh escaped Severus' lips as he tapped his foot.

"Severus Snape, get that hump out of your back this instant," said a familiar voice. Severus' heart leapt and he spotted none other than his _mother_ standing a few yards away from him with a small smile on her pale face. She was always comfortable with wearing Muggle garb, as she was wearing plain black trousers and a long coat with a green scarf.

"Mother," Severus gasped. "What in Merlin's name—"

"I decided to pick you up. Enough said, no questions asked, darling," Eileen said firmly. "I have a portkey waiting outside the station, let's get to it."

Severus wasn't sure what to do, let alone say, but he followed his mother nonetheless out of the immense station and down the bustling London streets full of Christmas shoppers and citizens trying desperately to keep warm from the scolding winter wind.

They finally arrived at a dodgy alleyway full of rubbish, illegible and brightly coloured graffiti, and cardboard boxes.

"The portkey should be over here, Sev," Eileen announced. "Ah, here we are."

Eileen grabbed hold to an old newspaper on the ground and summoned Severus over with a long index finger. He quickly took hold of the newspaper.

"One…two…three," Eileen counted, and he soon felt a pulling sensation at his navel and before he knew it, he arrived at a recognizable pathway between various brick houses.

The mother and son exited the alley into the cold, stale, winter air of Spinners End. His trunk got stuck and made loud clunky noises on the cobblestone pavement. The ground was damp of morning dew and perhaps light snow. The few trees around them were stripped of much of their foliage and the streets were nearly empty, save a couple small boys running out of their house to play around the corner. His family rarely conversed and mingled with other families in their neighbourhood. Tobias had his own mates and visited them often and at the most inconvenient times while his mother usually stayed at home with him or occasionally visited an old friend (of Muggle or wizard blood). After a few moments of silence, they arrived in front of the large brick home.

Eileen fished through her coat pocket to find the key, patting down her entire ensemble, and finally grasping hold of an old gold key. She opened the front door and closed it after Severus entered. They then walked into the warm house. The small sitting room, dull light fixture on the ceiling, the worn-looking furniture…oh, how he hated it all.

"Home sweet home," Eileen said with a cheery voice; however, Severus spotted the slight grimace along her lips and how her mirth didn't reach her eyes.

"Where is he?" Severus asked.

"Went for a drive, I think," Eileen said distractedly as she hung up her cloak. "No matter. Come to the kitchen."

Severus, again, followed his mother from the small sitting room into the small space of the kitchen and sat down at the table near a window with a bad view of the side of the house. Eileen quickly put a teakettle onto the stove and sat across the table from her only son. She was acting so out of character.

"So, how are you? How has your sixth year been so far?" Eileen asked.

Severus stared at his mother. _Now_ she was interested in how school went? After sending only two letters in the past four months and not seeming to give a flying fuck, she was interesting in hearing how school went. After not meeting him at the train station since his first year and barely speaking to him during vacations, she was wondering how he _was_.

"Fine," he said in the most deadpan voice he could muster.

"Ah. Well, how was the ball?" Eileen said, continuing to shuffle around the kitchen.

"Alright," he said.

"Dance with any girls?"

"One."

"Oh really?" Eileen exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, really," Severus replied.

"What's her name? Was it that red-haired girl?" Eileen wondered.

"No…Amelia Bulstrode."

Eileen gave a curt little nod and continued. "Ah, a Bulstrode…I do believe I knew her father."

"She did it for a bet though, so it was nothing," Severus quickly remembered and watched his mother frown.

"Her father was a right nasty piece of work, too," Eileen said. "How are your friends?"

"Great," he said.

"What about your—"

"What is with the newfound interest?" Severus snarled.

Eileen looked at the floor with her bottom lip in between her teeth, an action that reminded him of Lily immediately. She sighed. "I'm trying…I _really_ am."

"Trying what, exactly?" Severus snapped. He was finally releasing the spite and confusion he had felt crawling at the back of his throat from the moment he first saw her at the train station.

"I haven't been here for you for much too long…much too long," Eileen cried.

"Well it certainly took you long enough to realize that!" Severus retorted.

The teakettle began to hiss and Eileen jumped up and began to prepare tea.

"Milk? Sugar? Lemon?" Eileen asked hurriedly.

Severus made a noise, and Eileen walked over to the table with the necessities. Her hand placed tea in front of the both and for a few minutes they set up their tea and sat in silence; only the occasional clank of the glass teacup hitting the wood was heard.

"I don't think you're being very fair," Eileen said abruptly, taking another small sip of tea.

"I'm not being _fair?"_ Severus yelled.

"Severus," Eileen insisted. "Please…I want my son back. I want to be myself again. Not crying in loos or…escaping to the few friends I have. I want to be with _you_…to be okay again."

He believed yelling at her would give him so much satisfaction.

"What exactly does being 'okay again' include?" Severus asked, taking another sip of his hot tea.

"Well…it may include going to Diagon Alley this week to do some shopping," Eileen suggested softly, as though Severus was eight again and she was treating him to ice cream.

"I suppose that would be okay," Severus muttered into his tea. He knew his mum was smiling despite looking at his tea and not her.

"Excellent, Sev!" Eileen said. "Perhaps you can direct me to a little Christmas present while we're there?"

"I don't want anything," Severus replied.

"Of course you do, don't be modest!" Eileen said.

Perhaps he _wasn't_ being fair. Perhaps he should have really let his mother off for never telling him a single thing about her family or never being there. He used to cry about her, until the time came in which boys crying over silly things like their mum not replying to a letter was seen as something horribly pathetic and completely lacking testosterone. It was actually one of the reasons, Severus believed, that James and his friends called him "Snivellus".

Eileen continued to ask him questions about his classes, "friends", and other unimportant things for nearly an hour before the sound of a loud car motor was heard outside of the house.

"That must be him," Eileen breathed. "Now, please contain yourself, Severus. He has been in a tolerable mood the past few days."

"You mean not yelling his head off at you," Severus said darkly.

Eileen paused. "Yes, that's exactly what I mean," she remarked quickly. "Now be polite. Oh, take off your robes, dear. He won't be very pleased to see those. And straighten out your tie."

The moment his mother finished her sentence, Tobias Snape came walking into the kitchen and stood as still as a board. He was bundled up in warm clothing; his hooked nose red from cold and his hair messy and windblown from the weather.

"Severus…home already?" Tobias asked.

_"_Yes," Severus said.

Tobias walked over and gave Severus a manly clap on the back. "How long are you on hols?"

"Three weeks…as usual," Severus replied.

"Did ya just pick him up, Eileen?" Tobias asked his wife. She nodded as she began to rinse out the teacups. "Of course, you didn't drive all the way down there like I had to in September. Bloody underground complications…" he grumbled. "Make me a cuppa while you're at that."

Eileen turned off the water. "Yes, Tobias," she said wearily.

Tobias sat down at the kitchen table and reached into his coat pocket, producing a pack of cigarettes. He swiftly took out a single one, lit it while it was between his lips, and exhaled a stream of smoke.

Eileen immediately turned around from the sink. "Tobias, we went over this before. Do you mind not smoking in the house? It leaves a horrid smell," she said firmly.

Tobias took a short drag and scoffed. "Why don't you just get rid of the smell with that stick of yours?"

Eileen sighed. "I simply think it's better if you smoked outside."

"An' freeze my bloody bollocks off?" Tobias laughed. "I don't think so, Eileen."

"Must you use such language?" Eileen shrieked.

"I can say whatever the hell I want," Tobias said loudly, and took another long drag of his cigarette. "This is my house!"

Eileen sighed and thrust the cup of hot tea towards him across the table and left the kitchen in a huff. Tobias looked as though he were going to follow her, but stayed in his seat instead and took a gulp of tea and looked at Severus who was still standing.

"She never stops making a fuss, that one," Tobias grumbled.

Severus tried to refrain from shoving the tea in his father's face.

"One day if you get married and have kids, you'll feel the same way as I do, Severus," Tobias said in a lecturing tone.

Severus saw this as his chance to escape so he quickly excused himself, walked into the sitting room with his trunk, and opened the small door on the other side of the wall, revealing a staircase to the upper level of the Snape home. There was a light at the end of the hallway coming from his mother's room, but he instead made a sharp left into his own room.

It looked the same as it usually did: Grey-green painted walls, a single bed and a dresser. Blinds covered his only window, obscuring the view out the front of his home, and a wardrobe door was slightly ajar, revealing a little clothing and some old boxes—his childhood stored away within the cardboard prisons.

He quickly closed his door and set his trunk in front of it, then walked over to his bed and lay on it. It wasn't very comfortable…not nearly as comfortable as the beds in the Slytherin boys' dorm. It was already too small for him due to his long limbs, and his feet hung off the edge. Lifting his body up slowly, he raised the blinds and looked out the window at the overcast sky, dying trees, and children still playing down the street despite the bitter cold. Before he could ponder any further about his surroundings, the arguing started. He always grew comfortable at school, not hearing his father's bellowing voice and his mother's shrill shrieks and crying every evening, and instead listening to the boys in his dorm talking about women and sex and other trivial topics that most teenage boys often had on the brain.

He turned around and lay on his bed again, staring at the opposite wall, the door, the trunk…and he felt the bitter feeling of reality set in like it did every time he returned to Spinner's End: this was his home.

**XXX**

Carollers always bothered Lily. She had no idea why, because she was rather festive about the holidays herself…but for some reason, carollers annoyed her to no end. She assumed she just felt awkward watching people _sing at her_. Lily stood and smiled politely as the children and adults finished singing "Silent Night" on her front step.

"Thank you for that…wonderful song," Lily said when the carollers finished, and shut the door.

"Who was that, Lily?" Matilda Evans asked from the kitchen.

"Carollers…bloody carollers," Lily snorted and entered the warm kitchen as Matilda was making breakfast and fishing for plates from the cabinets. "I never know what to do when they're around me. Do I smile or look neutral or…I don't know…"

Suddenly, her mother almost dropped all the plates on the floor when an owl pecked loudly on the windowpane. Lily immediately jumped up to open the window for a familiar raven-coloured owl with odd white spots.

"Letter from Emmeline," Lily announced, ignoring her mother's wound-up expression. She then quickly ripped open the letter:

_Lily (my best chum and soon to be favourite drinking partner when I'm 35 and still single and living with nineteen cats),_

"What the…?" Lily pondered aloud at Emmeline' s odd opening but continued on.

_My mum and I were thinking about doing some Christmas shopping at Diagon Alley this afternoon, and if it's not too late notice we'd love for you to join us! Maybe even spend the night (?) Reply ASAP and if you can make it Floo straight over!_

_Love, Emmeline_

"Mum? Can I go shopping with Emmeline and spend the night?" Lily asked.

"I don't see why not. How are you going to get there? Fireplace?" Matilda said with a sigh. She didn't like to see Lily disappear in bright green flame, even if it was perfectly safe.

"Probably. I can't Apparate yet," Lily shrugged.

"Apparate?" Matilda said confusedly.

Lily scooped up some sugar from the sugar jar on the table. "It's pretty much popping from one place to another. I'm able to try and get my license this year."

Matilda sighed and gave Lily a small smile. "My daughter: the witch."

"My mother: the Muggle," Lily replied with a smile of her own.

Suddenly the phone rang and Matilda jumped up from her breakfast. Lily sat at the table and started eating oatmeal and buttered toast, attempting to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Hello? Oh, hello, Petunia! What? Oh…oh…I see. Well, have fun. You'll be here for Christmas, right? Eve? Well, then I suppose that's alright. What about New Year's? Eve? Fine. Would you like to drop by for a cup of—oh…okay… Goodbye…"

Matilda hung up the phone with a heavy sigh.

"What's up with Pet?" Lily asked after taking a large gulp of orange juice and another bite of toast.

"Petunia won't be joining us tonight for dinner, _or_ Christmas morning," Matilda said with a bit of an edge to her voice.

"Vernon doesn't have to do with it, does he?" Lily groaned, remembering her mother's letter about her sister's new significant other.

Matilda nodded. "She'll be spending dinner with _Vernon_ and _his_ family today and on Christmas," she said, leaning against the kitchen counter and folding her arms across her chest. "I'm getting sick of that man taking up so much of her time. It's the holidays, for goodness' sake!"

Petunia was barely over during family events, missed vacations and even birthdays now that she was out of the house and with Vernon constantly. Her letters to Lily also stopped, and her former best friend seemed lost forever.

"Okay, well, I'm going to reply to the owl and pack my bag, Mum," Lily told her mother, who was eerily quiet.

"Okay, dear," Matilda said quietly. "Tell your father where you're going. And tell him to come down for a spot of breakfast too, will you?"

Lily nodded and consumed a few more spoonful of oatmeal before quickly retrieving a piece of paper from around the kitchen and writing:

_Emmeline,_

_Mum says it's okay. I'll be there soon._

_Lily_

_P.S. What in Merlin's name were you going on about with the cats? I thought you were allergic._

She then ran up the stairs and immediately opened the window and Artemis' cage, gave the owl the letter, and let her fly out the window. She then gathered her necessities: toiletries, clothes, and a pouch of money. Lily walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out her long, black wizarding robes just in case, and then walked out of room and into her father's.

Lily walked in to find him sitting in bed with a deep frown on his face as he read the paper with the loud radiator on full blast. His reading glassing resting on the end of his nose and his light-coloured hair with patches of grey looked messy and unkempt. He glanced towards the doorway and noticed Lily.

"Morning, Lily Bud," he said. "Had breakfast yet?"

"Yes…and Mum says you should do the same. I'm about to go over to Emmeline's to spend the night," Lily said, used to his affectionate nickname.

"Ah. Well, have fun and be safe. There have been a lot of strange occurrences," he said, pointing to the front page of the_ Times_. "Houses burned down across town, farms being demolished... Back in the day we didn't have this nonsense going on!"

Lily walked over to her father's side and read the paper heading:

**Family of four found dead in their Essex home after fire gutted building**

She knew these weren't crimes performed by common vandals, but she kept it to herself. Her parents didn't know a thing about what was going on in the wizarding world, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"I'll be fine, Dad. I'll see you tomorrow," Lily said, and proceeded downstairs to the family fireplace.

"I'm going now, Mum!" Lily called, and heard her mother's footsteps approach.

"I'll see you off," Matilda said. Lily had a feeling that despite her mother's apprehension, she was rather fascinated by this way of transportation. She wordlessly grabbed a handful of Floo powder from a small container on top of the mantel and threw it in the fireplace, causing a flare of green flames to illuminate the quiet living room. Stepping in, Lily gave her mother a little wave and yelled, "340 Hampshire Place."

Lily was immediately thrown into the Vance fireplace and let loose a hacking cough as her lungs and nostrils burned with ashes. She hadn't Floo'd in months.

"Hello, Lily," said Emmeline's merry voice, guiding her out of the fireplace.

"'Lo, Emmeline," Lily coughed, clutching her bag and exiting the fireplace and entering the Vance household's living room.

The Vances were a middle-class pure-blood family. Their two-storey home had a rather simple look to it: furniture in the basic places, some moving photographs on the mantel…average magical family. Mr. and Mrs. Vance worked at the Ministry of Magic and Emmeline's older sister was in Healer studies.

"Let's go up to my room. My mum is taking a quick shower so we'll go after that," Emmeline said.

Lily followed Emmeline up creaky stairs and into her blue-painted room, which was covered in moving posters of her favourite wizard bands. She spotted some familiar photographs resting on shelves along with books; a large record player was also seen in the corner of the room, which only played wizard records unless given a very complicated charm. A desk and a bed completed the room.

"What do you think?" Emmeline said, twisting around and showing off her new, navy blue robes. "Does it make me look bigger?"

Lily knew Emmeline had a problem with her appearance. She was tall and had a rather lanky look to her that she would probably grow out of, but it seemed to plague Emmeline. She did everything she could to make herself look heavier and, frankly, the robes weren't doing much. Even her facial features bothered her; Emmeline considered having a "strong face" an insult rather than a compliment. Her high cheekbones and arched brows gave her a stately look, almost aristocratic—which Lily would hardly find insulting.

"Sure," Lily smiled.

"So," Emmeline said, flopping on the bed next to Lily with a nervous gleam in her eyes. "Now can you tell?"

"Tell what?" Lily asked.

"You know! Oh, I'm horrible at this. I don't have Marlene's prying skills," Emmeline admitted. Suddenly, Lily knew exactly what Emmeline was talking about.

"You mean between Alexander and I after the ball?" Lily asked, amused by Emmeline's behaviour.

"Yes," Emmeline said. "You two kissed, right?"

Lily suddenly found the argyle print of Emmeline's bedspread very enjoyable to look at. Emmeline smiled. "Did you see fireworks or did your leg pop up or something?"

"Just call me Lily the leg-popper," Lily laughed. "And no, I didn't see fireworks or anything. But my eyes were closed…or rather squeezed together. Oh, and I was worried about my nose."

"Just one kiss?" Emmeline moaned in disappointment.

"Well…no…" Lily blushed.

"Oh! So you two actually started snogging! Tongues and everything?" Emmeline said, practically whispering as though the words were sacred.

"Well…yes. And I must say it was rather odd feeling at first…but it turned out to be alright…I suppose," Lily said, feeling more embarrassed than ever. She then realised she didn't like to kiss and tell. Especially while Emmeline looked as though she were about to have a fit from the excitement.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Emmeline's mother walked into the doorway of the room. She looked very similar to Emmeline: same tall stature and blonde hair (though hers was short with grey emerging at the roots), but she had a very pointy nose and dark brown eyes. "Are you girls ready?"

The girls nodded, and all three of them headed out of the room, down the stairs, and to the fireplace Lily had exited minutes earlier. Mrs. Vance grabbed a handful of Floo powder, and one by one they all yelled the name of their destination.

**XXX**

"What do you think of these robes, dear?" Eileen asked Severus, holding up a pair of rather plain-looking second-hand robes.

"What do I think?" he repeated, and halted browsing through the dress robes to look up at the article of clothing his mother presented.

"Yes, what do you think?" Eileen asked.

"…They're black," Severus said.

"Yes…astute observation." Eileen rolled her eyes.

"Well, you asked me what I think," Severus defended.

Eileen sighed. "How about we take a break? We can go get some tea at the tea shop."

Severus followed his mother in his usual slump-backed manner. They walked quickly—hoping to escape the harsh winter air—all the way to the other side of the alley, through shortcuts and shops. The mother and son finally reached the somewhat busy tea shop, full of people sipping the tea that came in hundreds of different styles and flavours; caramel to chicken, garlic to gooseberry. Severus found a seat in the corner of the room by a window and sat while his mother mingled with the woman at the counter. He folded his arms and looked out the window, having nothing more constructive to do. Suddenly the little bell rang and when he turned his head towards the door, he was suddenly alarmed when he saw a familiar head of auburn hair conversing with a familiar tall blonde.

**XXX**

"Just try it. I promise it's good," Emmeline persuaded.

"Tea infused with carrot? Do I really want vegetables in my tea?" Lily asked, slightly sceptical.

"It's really good! And maybe we can find some way to talk to those blokes over there," Emmeline whispered and jerked her head towards a table of young men who Lily knew had graduated from Hogwarts a year or two ago.

"I thought you fancied Remus," Lily said.

"Well…he doesn't like me. Remember what I said, Lily? Remember you're my drinking buddy and the cats and…" Emmeline tried to reason and sighed.

"Oh, so that's what you meant!" Lily said.

"Anyway, I guess waiting so long and being so shy around Remus showed me that I need to be more…forceful," she continued, stopping temporarily to find the right word and lifting her head a bit. Lily knew this wouldn't last long. "Let's just get some tea and sit over there and—"

"I have a boyfriend already," Lily said, averting her eyes from Emmeline's pleading gaze.

"I know…but you're a lot braver than me so can you at least start a conversation?" Emmeline asked. "I mean, they may even remember you!"

"And why on Earth would they remember me?" Lily asked.

Emmeline shrugged. "Because you've _always_ been popular. You're a well-liked girl. The most popular of the sixth-year girls by far. Come on, Lily. You know you want to help a mate out!" Emmeline whined.

"We'll see," Lily muttered. "I think I want a pistachio flavored tea…"

"Okay, I'll order," Emmeline offered. Lily stood by the wall of the shop and looked at her chipping red nail polish. Lily had always found this shop intriguing, but she went to Diagon Alley so seldom that she had never before gotten around to stopping by. She loved the vibe it gave off though. The huge menu, the comfortable yet chic interior design. Even better were the holiday trimmings around the building, and all around Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley's Christmas decorations weren't like Hogwarts', but they still gave all the busy shoppers a sense of holiday spirit; the Christmas sales helped as well.

"Lily Evans?"

Lily looked up at the sound of her name and was shocked to see Snape's mother standing next to her. She didn't look much different from the first time Lily had seen her, months ago—though she wasn't wearing much makeup, leaving her wrinkles more heavily defined.

"Mrs. Snape." Lily smiled and shook the woman's hand; it was still as cold as it had been the last time they met

"Eileen," she corrected.

"Right," Lily said. "And how are you this afternoon?"

"Fine. Rather nippy, but fine. And yourself?"

"Grand," Lily said. "Glad to be on hols. My friend is buying coffee."

"I'm getting some tea for myself and Severus." Eileen smiled over her shoulder.

Lily turned around and spotted Severus with his arms folded and his hair covering his face while he looked out the window. A small smirk appeared across her face as she looked at the boy.

"He must have seen you. He's always been a bit shy," Eileen pointed out fondly. "We were doing some cloak shopping. But needless to say it's hard to get boys to go shopping, especially with their mothers."

"What about his father? Maybe blokes feel more comfortable doing that," Lily suggested.

Eileen merely gave Lily a weak little smile and reached the counter where two coffees were waiting. "Do you think your friend would like to join us?"

"Actually, she has her eye on a table of boys, so I think we'll be headed that way," Lily replied.

"Oh, no need to explain. I remember what that was like…chasing after boys with my mates," Eileen chucked. "Nice seeing you again!"

"You too," Lily said and waved, watching Eileen return to the table in which Severus sat.

"Got the tea," Emmeline said, clutching two large mugs and handing one to Lily. "Now, let's get that table right next to them. How should I walk? With a bit of a swing in my hips?"

"Right, just don't break anything," Lily said, and walked behind Emmeline who walked past the table of young men. One chap raised an eyebrow at Emmeline's exaggerated movements but didn't seem to take much notice otherwise. Lily joined Emmeline at the table and noticed the other boys whisper to one another before one of them (a blond-haired boy) walked towards them.

"Hey, birds," the boy said.

"H-hi," Emmeline stammered. "What is your name?"

"Nathan," the boy replied then looked at Lily. "And yours, love?"

"My name is Lily and this is my friend Emmeline," Lily said. A grinning Emmeline was fumbling with her coffee a bit.

"Now I recognize you. Gryffindor prefect," he said to Lily with a look of approval, then looked at Emmeline. "Hello, Emmeline."

Lily frowned when he said Emmeline's name with less enthusiasm.

"So," he started, looking at Lily again. "Would you like to join us?"

"Sure, we'd love to. Wouldn't we, Emmeline?" Lily said, nudging Emmeline in the side discreetly.

"Yes, we'd love to," Emmeline said quickly.

The girls moved over to the table with their coffees. There were three boys at the table, all of whom Lily and Emmeline recognized. All were in Hufflepuff and had graduated last year.

"So, what year are you girls in?" asked a dark-haired boy.

"We're in our sixth year," Lily said.

"Lily here is a prefect." Nathan smirked at the other men.

"Smart one, eh?" said the dark-haired boy again.

"I suppose. But so is Emmeline! She reads all the time, even when we aren't assigned to anything. I was actually rather surprised _she_ didn't get the position in fifth year," Lily said, hoping the boys would be a little more interested in her friend, though feeling ridiculous for _advertising_ her friend like this was some sort of Muggle dating show. All Emmeline needed to do was be on the opposite side of a big wall with three mystery men on the other side. Though Lily didn't believe the boys had enough facial hair.

"Oh, don't make me blush," Emmeline started. _"You're—"_

"So Lily, what do you want to do when you're out of school?" piped up the eyebrow-raising boy from earlier. "I'm Ethan."

"Not sure, Ethan," Lily said, annoyed by the interruption. "Perhaps something involving charms or potion-making."

The men began to boast about their own occupations and about how much money they made and how they were connected to so many well-known people of English wizarding society. Lily wasn't that impressed; in fact, they seemed like Professor Slughorn's type of men. Emmeline seemed interested and kept nodding her head and saying "uh-huh" like a broken record. The men continued to find little interest in Emmeline's topics of discussion and Lily felt her frown deepen as their time together progressed. She didn't know what on Earth their problem was with Emmeline. She was a smart girl, but the men seemed more interested in Lily and her common hobbies of charms and Muggle music than anything Emmeline had to offer, which Lily found more interesting to begin with. She began to regret wasting quality time with Emmeline on a bunch of ostentatious men.

**XXX**

"Severus, don't be so sulky. Enjoy your tea!" Eileen exclaimed.

He didn't think he was being sulky. He was merely taking notice of the continuous look of disillusionment on Lily's face; she didn't seem to enjoy the company of the flirters.

"Don't let those men bother you, dear," Eileen teased.

"They aren't bothering me, Mother," Severus snapped. "I'm not even thinking about them."

"If you say so," Eileen in a sing-song voice

Severus drained the remains of his drink, as did Eileen, and the two headed out of the coffee shop; Severus stole one last fleeting glance at Lily's boredom.

"So we need to go back to the second-hand robes shop eventually. Don't give me that look, Severus. Your robes are much too short. Look, they're high above your ankles," Eileen said. "But first, I'd like to make a quick trip to Knockturn Alley."

"Why?" Severus asked with interest.

"I'd like to visit an old friend of mine. She owns a store over there with a little of everything but mostly rare potion ingredients and solutions. She has always wanted to meet you again," Eileen briefly.

Severus followed his mother down the dodgy alleyway, which he hadn't visited since his third year (when he ran into Demetrius while book shopping) and had always been eager to visit again. The alley was much longer than he remembered, and was much wider than one assumed. As they went further into the alley, a putrid smell reached his nostrils, making him gag as he passed by a vendor selling odorous and variously infected bits of human flesh. A group of kids shrieked and said "eww" as they passed the peddling hag and ran to catch up with their guardian. Eileen made a sharp left and more small shops surrounded the two. Severus spotted one that sold various repellents and another tall, narrow shop selling various dark texts. He slowed down to take a good look at the store window but his mother yanked his arm and told him, "I knew you'd be drawn to that place, but we don't have time."

Eileen made a right turn into a very short, cramped, cobblestone street with only a few stores and a dead end and made her way to a black store with a simple white sign reading "Gwendolyn Blair's Store of Concoctions and Herbs". There was shrubbery on either side of the door and as they entered, intoxicating potion fumes filled the air. The dim store had hot-pink painted walls with shelves of rare potion ingredients, many of which were not used in the typical solutions or potions and only used in one potion or so. The wooden planks of floor squeaked and shifted as the mother and son walked towards the vacant register. Severus' head moved around the store as though if he didn't see something once he would never see it again: large mason jars were filled with unidentifiable herbs and plants of different colours and textures as well as the occasional rare insect or beetle. There was a small bookshelf of various texts, mostly about herbology, and on the other side of the room lay jars of solutions and potions.

As Severus' eye was attracted to a particularly venomous-looking concoction, his mother started to call for the owner.

"Gwendolyn? Gwen?" his mother called. Soon after, a somewhat short, middle-aged woman with chestnut-coloured hair appeared from a passage beyond the register.

"Eileen!" Gwendolyn said and gave Eileen a hug. Severus found it odd seeing his mother with an actual friend. "And is this little Severus? Oh, Eileen. He isn't so little anymore now is he? You're nearly a man are you not?"

"I'll be turning seventeen in January, ma'am," Severus replied and shook the potion mistress's hand.

"He looks so much like you, Eileen," Gwendolyn said, still in awe of the boy as she looked him up and down. "He certainly has your bone structure. Though he looks like his father too."

Severus noticed that she said the latter a bit less passionately.

"Yes, he certainly does," Eileen said with a hint of lament. "Ah well! We haven't much time and we must do some clothes shopping before dinner."

"I'll take you to the back room. How about Severus stays out here and looks after the items? We'll only be but a minute," Gwendolyn suggested and the two women walked past the register into the bowels of the shop.

Severus looked at the various items along the walls for a while. His fingers brushed delicately against the battered book spines and along the glass jars with strange items submerged in liquid and various herbs giving off odd smells and sensations that ticked his senses and large nostrils.

It was then when he realized how much he longed to return back to Hogwarts and sit in Slughorn's class full of dunderheads and experiment. His father would rather jump off a cliff than have Severus concoct any potions in the house.

His musings didn't last long, however, as Eileen and Gwendolyn emerged from the back room. He noticed that the latter looked as though she had just been crying—her eyes were puffy, with a glassy look to them. His mother, on the other hand, looked rather happy.

"Alright, Severus. We'd best get going to those robes now. Thanks again, Gwendolyn," Eileen said quietly.

"Sure thing, Eileen. Oh, and Severus. Your mother tells me you have a knack for potion-making. Feel free to drop by any time! Maybe you could help me brew every once in a while," the shop owner suggested shakily. What on Earth could have happened back there?

"Thank you for the offer, ma'am," Severus said with a slight bow and followed his mother out of the shop and into the nippy weather.

"Mother, what was that woman so upset about?" Severus asked as they trod back to the cloak shop.

"Oh, I reckon she is just rather upset that she won't see me for a long time," Eileen said quickly.

"I thought you were 'better', Mother," Severus said offhandedly. "Can't you visit her whenever you desire?"

Eileen's look of slight satisfaction morphed into a look of deep exasperation. "Severus, I may be feeling better but that doesn't mean I'm going to just…jump start back into life again. Far from it…very far from it…"

"What the hell does _that_ mean?" Severus snapped. "What do you mean 'very far from it'?"

"Since when did you ask so many questions?" Eileen said pithily.

"Since you started paying attention. You know, caring," Severus said through gritted teeth, trying to keep control.

"Oh don't say that! I've _always_ cared!" Eileen said as though his words burned.

"Could have fooled me," Severus barely whispered.

They walked in silence for a minute until Eileen turned to Severus as her hand was on the door to the robe shop. "I'll _always care _about you, Severus. You shouldn't _ever_ have to question that. There is no way in _hell_ that you should ever have to question that."

Severus said nothing, and followed his mother back into the cloak shop.

**XXX**

Emmeline and Lily mounted the stairs up to Emmeline's room with colourful shopping bags (most of which were festive red and green colours) in hand after a long day in Diagon Alley. Lily successfully bought a gift for a couple friends, her parents, and her sister; even if the latter most likely wouldn't have a gift in return. Emmeline immediately flopped onto her bed and sighed.

"Well, that was an utter disaster," she said disappointedly.

"Don't start blaming yourself, though," Lily frowned. "Those blokes were a load of bludgers. I think that one of them was hoping that my breasts would just start bouncing like a couple of ruddy basketballs while he was discussing his annual earnings."

Emmeline chortled in that elegant way she usually did, her nose and eyes crinkling a bit around the edges.

"So, what's it like?" Emmeline asked as she picked up a hairbrush off the nearby table and began to maintain her long blonde hair.

"What's what like?" Lily asked.

"Having a boyfriend like Alexander, Lily. Having somebody to look out for you and be there when you're lonely and loyal and—"

"Alexander isn't a golden retriever," Lily laughed.

"Oh, I know. You never stuck me as a girl who was into bestiality," Emmeline said.

"We haven't been dating for very long. Actually, we only technically started to go steady after the ball," Lily explained.

"All my relationships…or at least the ONE that I actually had, ended in such a horrid way. Our personalities were totally off!" Emmeline cried. "I couldn't even talk to him about that book I got about common mistakes wizards have about Muggles without him finding someway to connect it with Quidditch! He wasn't very smart…definitely not as smart as Remus."

Lily continued to listen to her friend's rant quietly.

"I mean," Emmeline said softly. "Remus is so smart and sweet and charming…"

"And a Marauder," Lily pointed out with a smirk.

"Yes, but he isn't like that idiot Sirius Black," Emmeline snorted, who was never very fond of Sirius ever since he turned her hair into garden snakes in their fourth year. "I hope that he and that…Molly girl aren't serious."

"I'm sure they aren't," Lily said, trying to soothe her friend. Emmeline gave Lily a small smile and continued to brush her hair.

As Lily examined her leftover Knuts in boredom, she discovered she was full of a mix of emotion. Despite the problems in her friend's love life, she was glad that, at that moment, that was the most of her problems. Sure, the war scared her, and she shivered as she remembered her first real brush with it, in early autumn when she was hexed in the corridor. But most of the time, the war was the least of her worries; especially when there were blokes, holiday shopping, and nineteen cats to worry about.

_At least for now_, Lily thought grimly.

**XXX**

Eileen opened the front door and entered the brick house with Severus behind her with a few bags in his hands with a new pair of black second-hand robes and a new quill and parchment. Tobias sat on the couch with an old newspaper in front of his face and a dirty glass of some sort of deep amber-coloured liquid.

"It's about bloody time!" he growled. "I'm fucking starving!"

"Please watch your language, Tobias," Eileen said, returning to her nervous, hesitant nature around her loud husband. "And why did you have to wait for _me _to come? You're a grown man, I think you'd be able to fix a sandwich or something."

"I don't want a sandwich, Eileen," Tobias snapped. "So make yourself useful and fix something else."

"I got groceries from the market in town a few days ago so you could easily make something _for yourself. _I'm much too tired to cook right now," Eileen said, standing her ground. "There's some soup in the fridge that can be heated up on the stove."

Tobias rolled his eyes and walked up to Eileen slowly before standing only an inch or two away from her and he lowered his face to her eye level. After looking at her defiantly in the eyes for a few seconds a smirk slowly appeared onto his unshaven face and turned to Severus.

"You," he said simply.

Severus, still by the door, simply looked at his father.

"Severus, I believe that I'm talking to you," his father said firmly.

"Yes, Father?" Severus muttered and walked over to his father who quickly grabbed him by his hair. He could smell the fetid smell of beer on his breath.

"You've been at that _wizard_ school for the past four months and have been served food without lifting a finger," Tobias spat. "So how would you fancy making dinner tonight?"

"I'd appreciate it if you let go of my hair!" Severus hollered, earning him a hard tug courtesy of his father.

"Let go, Tobias!" shrieked Eileen but she didn't move a muscle. "You're going to rip his hair out!"

His father threw him away from him onto the floor and hissed, "The boy needs to cut his hair anyway."

"That's the style nowadays," Eileen tried to reason. "You watch the telly."

"I don't care if it's the style or not, the boy needs to cut his hair," Tobias growled. "Fine, I'll make myself my own ruddy dinner, but don't expect to get anything from me."

Tobias stomped towards the small kitchen, leaving Severus and his mother alone in the sitting room.

Severus jumped up and started panting heavily; controlling his temper was the least of his concerns. "Damn drunk!" he hissed.

"You watch your mouth too, young man!" Eileen barked.

"He's insane, I swear, he's insane!" Severus continued hysterically in a low voice. "I can't wait to get out of this…_prison_. Out of this bloody _excuse_ for a household. Only a couple years, I tell myself. Oh, how I long to leave Hogwarts and then I'm out of this place. Gone! Away from him, away from y—"

He stopped himself and looked at his mother who stared at her son with narrowed eyes. "Away from him and away from me…that's what you were going to say."

"Of course not. I wasn't going to say that," Severus said and shook his head as though her assumption of his words was absolutely preposterous.

Eileen bowed her head and said nothing, wiping her eyes quickly, and not to discreetly from her face.

He didn't mean to almost mention his mother…it slipped. Whatever he meant to say, he felt beyond dreadful and scowled before deciding find anyway _possible_ to get out of that house. So he strode over and opened the creaky front door, slammed it shut, and stood on the street. The stale winter air plagued his pallid cheeks and chilled his ears.

Though the moon was hardly visible through the clouds that night and the sky was dark blue in colour. Few stars were visible that night, with the help of the industrial smoke that often emitted from the town. He began to walk around the neighbourhood; wondering what was going on inside the other brick houses; many of which illuminated with light and released smoky wood scents from their chimneys. He turned a street and saw a man getting out of his car and running to the front door. The man knocked on the door and seconds later it opened and a female shriek of mirth was heard from within. Though both figures were in shadow, he could still distinguish the woman's shadow leaping on the man's in a strong, loving embrace. Severus scowled and began to walk in the opposite direction, back to Spinner's End.

"Just two weeks left," Severus said aloud as he kicked a pebble in the road. "Two more weeks of hell left."

* * *

A/N 2: Thanks to all of you who have been reading my story and a huge thanks to those wo started from the beginning. The fic is just over a year old and is still going strong. Chapter 16 won't be out for a while but I hope it'll be worth the wait since something pretty significant occurs… 


	16. Poison

A/N: Hello, readers! I'm finally dishing out chapter 16. This chapter is almost as long as chapter 8 but only off by a few hundred words (this chapter is around 9,700 words long. Ooer). Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and I thought I should also make one thing clear because this has come up in about 3 reviews already and I'd just like to address it: This _will_ be a long story. I'm sorry if its moving slowly for some of you and you may want a little more action but believe me, I _know_ where I would like to go with the plot and the characters and all that good stuff so I'm asking nicely for a cut down on complaints about length. So if you don't like long stories, I suggest you stop reading now while you still can! But I will say this: the story will speed up a little bit after the foundation of Snape and Lily's strange relationship is set.

* * *

_**X Poison**_

A week had passed on slowly and Christmas Eve was finally here. The Snape household hadn't been festive for years. When he was younger, Severus remembered, there had been lights, and sweets to munch on while eagerly expecting presents in stockings and under a Christmas tree, or perhaps wishing for snow to fall pleasantly outside to top it all off. Nowadays, a lone stocking would show up by the fireplace and a blandly wrapped present was found on the threadbare couch in the sitting room. No snow, no sweets, no lights, and no tree.

That day, however, Eileen got up early on Christmas Eve to set up a few stockings by the chimney and arrange a few presents to lie nestled under a –pathetic little tree lacking in ornate decorations. In the afternoon, mugs of hot chocolate were found on the kitchen counter next to a plate of small cookies. Tobias, seemingly uncurious about it all, took nearly five and was out the front door seconds later, leaving a few crumbs on the ground as he ate. _How out of character she is behaving!_ Severus thought as he turned off the holiday program Tobias left on.

Late that night, Severus reclined in bed, staring out the window—like he has been since he got home—from underneath thick covers when he heard a gentle knock on his door.

"Yes?" he called in slight frustration and turned towards the sound to see Eileen's dark head of hair peeking in around the doorframe.

"May I come in?" she asked.

Severus looked back out the window and she proceeded into the room. They never talked about Severus' slip of the tongue but instead seemed to avoid each other as much as they could. He couldn't possibly avoid her this time however.

He felt the bed shift as Eileen sat next to him on the mattress.

"You need a bigger bed," she noticed as she looked at the end of the bed frame.

"I've been saying that for almost four years now," Severus mumbled.

"Got an owl post for you, Severus," Eileen said promptly, and dropped the soft parcel onto her son's stomach. "Feels soft. Perhaps clothing?"

Severus slowly sat up and unwrapped the neatly tied string and discovered a letter on top of a new black scarf. Puzzled as to who would give him clothing, with furrowed brows he quickly opened the letter to see who had sent it. His heart seemed to skip a beat and bury itself to the pits of his stomach as his eyes moved to the bottom of the letter to see a signature neatly scrawled at the bottom of the stationery. He placed the letter aside and held up the sleek-looking scarf.

"Oh, this is lovely, Severus," Eileen smiled. "Who gave it to you?"

Severus continued to handle the black scarf as his mother stealthily picked up the letter without him noticing.

"'Dear Snape,'" Eileen started to read. Severus' head jerked up but he didn't snatch the letter away like his fingers were burning to do; to rip the stationary into small pieces and set it on fire. "'I had a bit of extra spending money and wanted to give you a little treat for agreeing to study with me on Thursdays. I think that, despite your urge not to be involved, we can really get a lot of good work done together. I'm pleased that we can get over what happened last year and I'd rather not dwell on what you said any longer.

"'I hope you like the scarf! There were other colours but I remembered that you said you didn't like many colours so I decided on black. It's charmed to know how the weather feels (say, if it's windy or cold, etc) and heat up accordingly. I hope you enjoy it.

"'Anyway, have a Happy Christmas and New Year and I'll see you after the holidays. Take care!

"'Lily Evans.'"

Severus feigned extreme interest in the fabric and design of the scarf, trying to hide his warm cheeks and avoid the look on his mother's face.

"The little red-haired girl," she said simply, a smile crawling on her lips. "So you two are studying together?'

Severus opened his mouth to speak but no words came, instead he glared at his mother out of the corner of his eye. Eileen sighed.

"You know, I don't think Tobias nor I ever gave you the talk about…what's the Muggle term for it…ah, yes, 'the birds and the bees'," she chuckled.

"Merlin's beard, don't discuss that," Severus said with a look of pure horror on his visage. "He already said enough when I was…what…twelve?"

"Oh, is that right? What did he say?" Eileen asked.

"He said that if I 'shag a bird, tell your mates right away because they'll find out anyway and most likely in a much more embarrassing manner'," Severus spat. "He was probably drunk."

Eileen frowned and gritted her teeth. "That man…what nerve! Good thing you didn't inherit his stupidity!" Severus couldn't help but crack a smile at that, but his demeanour quickly changed at his mother's next query. "But what exactly is going on between you and that girl?"

"You read the letter, didn't you?" Severus snapped.

Eileen looked at Severus closely and suddenly started to stroke his hair from front to back like she did when he was a child.

"Mother, stop it," he said, but Eileen continued to do so and gently began to rub her thumb on his forehead. It used to feel relaxing when he was younger…now it felt both relaxing and utterly embarrassing.

"So you two are just studying?" she asked after a few minutes had passed.

"Yes," he replied.

"Are you sure you don't fancy this girl?" Eileen asked.

"Mother—"

"She seems like a very sweet girl. Very beautiful, too. She actually reminds me of an old friend of mine. They both have similar facial features," Eileen said. "She may be good for you."

"Is she a healing potion now, or a leafy green vegetable?" Severus huffed.

"I mean to say…it may be good for you to date. You're almost seventeen," she pointed out.

"And you'd like me to date Evans?" Severus snorted. She just didn't get it!

"She seems lovely!" Eileen cried. "Why not take a chance?"

"Well, besides the fact that she already seems to be in a relationship, Evans would hardly be interested in me and believe me, Mother, the feeling is exceedingly mutual," Severus put in plain words.

"Alright, then," Eileen sighed. "What did she mean by getting over what happened last year?"

"Nothing," Severus said promptly, the word "year" barely made it out of her mouth.

"Well since you said it that way, it's definitely something," Eileen raised a brow. "Come on, you can tell your own mum."

"I'm starting to get rather irritated with this whole _caring_ thing," Severus grumbled. "To make a long story short, I called her by a name that usually isn't used in polite conversation due to impulse. Enough said."

"You didn't call her a…you know what, did you?" Eileen grimaced, her heavy brows met around the middle.

"Depends on what you mean by 'you know what'," Severus said quietly, knowing his mother caught on to what he called the Muggle-born girl.

"You called that poor girl a _Mudblood,_ didn't you?" Eileen said. Severus remained silent, looking out the window at the light snow gathering at the windowpane. "You _did."_

"I WAS HANGING UPSIDE DOWN IN MY PANTS IN FRONT OF A LARGE CROWD AND HAD TO DEAL WITH _HER_ HELPING ME LAST SPRING!" Severus roared, defending himself best he could.

"What?" Eileen yelled. "How were you…why on Earth—"

"Don't. Ask," Severus hissed.

"But…she tried to _help_ you and you called her that?" Eileen asked in complete confusion. "The way men's minds works never ceases to amaze me! Severus, that kind of behaviour was downright foolish of you. And who had the nerve to do that to you?"

"Potter," Severus spat.

"That boy that's been bothering you ever since first year?" Eileen asked softly.

"Oh for God's sake! I could have handled Potter just fine without a _girl _trying to help me," Severus whined.

"That doesn't make what you did any less dense, Severus. But…you _did_ show maturity in apologising to Lily. I'm sure it meant a lot to her," Eileen tried to soothe after chiding him. He didn't bother to correct her: he had not, technically, apologised to Evans. "And for her to forgive you and proceed to initiate some sort of acquaintance with you is rather extraordinary. I suggest you make the best of it!"

Severus sighed. "I suppose that is…somewhat reasonable. But nothing more."

There was another long pause and Eileen suddenly stopped stroking his head. "Severus…you…_do_ like women right?"

His eyes widened and his voice became rather strained and high-pitched in his throat. "I beg your pardon?"

"What I mean to say is…you aren't attracted to…_men,_ are you?" Eileen said the latter part in a whisper, her eyes as wide as a seer prophesying. "Because if you are, then that's perfectly—"

"Oh bloody hell! Of course I'm not!" Severus bellowed. "Yes, I'm attracted to women!"

There was a moment of silence until Severus' mother burst out laughing, covering her hand over her mouth in hopes to quiet the jovial sounds. The sides of Severus' mouth twitched but he refused to smile. How dare his mother imply something like that?

"Oh, come on, dear! No hard feelings?" Eileen laughed and suddenly began to tickle his side with her right hand.

"Mother!" Severus growled in protest.

"You know that was funny!" Eileen insisted and continued to attempt to tickle the teenager.

"I'll hex your hand off!" Severus warned.

"Your own mother, eh? That does it!" Eileen said, and stood up and used both hands to tickle Severus' sides. He couldn't help it now. His mother seemed to remember how ticklish he was at those spots. He cracked a large smile and tried to defend himself.

"S-stop it!" Severus gritted out, refusing to laugh, but Eileen kept going full force. "I swear, I-I'll curse you!"

Of course she didn't stop, and the tickle frenzy lasted for almost a minute; Severus tried not to show much mirth, biting his tongue and covering his sides but it hardly helped.

Eileen finally stopped and mother and son were panting. She continued the oddly therapeutic hair stoking and smiled sadly. "You used to love that when you were a boy."

"Well, I'm not a boy anymore," Severus snorted, but quickly rephrased that when he felt he was implying that he was female. "I mean…I'm not…little. Tickle-fights certainly aren't one of my hobbies any longer." The lamp on the table next to him illuminated his mother's face and he paid close attention to her features: the developing wrinkles on her forehead and the crow's feet at the edges of her eyes. Her mouth was without lipstick and her pink lips looked ever so slightly dry. Her brows, though tidy, were always a bit heavy and her years of crying didn't help the slight look of a permanent frown. It always changed when she smiled a real smile. Her eyes would light up with such vim and vigour it was sometimes shocking.

"Do you know what I wish for you?" Eileen asked solemnly. "Safety."

"Mother, spare me the dramatics," Severus sighed.

Eileen ignored him and whispered, "And love. I want you to find someone who makes you so happy. _So_ happy that…it's an unexplainable delight. Love isn't just the dictionary or pop culture reference. Love has no definition. It can never and should never really be defined. It would loose its…magic."

Severus attempted to look away as he saw tears well up in his mother's eyes. "And…you'll make some important decisions in your lifetime, Severus. Make the right ones."

Silence fell among the two until Eileen took a deep, shaky breath. "I know about what's going on back in our world, Severus." He didn't have to ask what "our world" was: she meant the wizarding world. "Your mother isn't as ignorant as you think she is," Eileen said in a short, deprecating chuckle.

"I never said—"

"Terrible…_terrible_ things. Please, please, _please_ don't get caught up in it," Eileen pleaded.

"I won't," Severus mumbled.

"I'm begging you, Severus. You'll be tempted. I know what Slytherin House is like. You probably have been already," Eileen said steadily.

"And how do you know?" Severus said bleakly.

"I'm your mother… In some ways I know you better than you know yourself. Even if I haven't been around when I should have…I'm still your mother…and you will be enticed. But just…don't give in. Make the right decision. It may not have seemed like it for a while, but…I care about you. So much that—Merlin, it's unbearable sometimes...it hurts," Eileen said as her voice continued to get caught in her throat.

Tears began to fall liberally down her face, which she tried to wipe off swiftly with a free hand. "Enough of my incoherency." She bent down to kiss Severus on the mouth and smiled with great maternal deportment. "Good night, darling. I _love_ you. Remember that. Don't _ever_ forget that."

With that she got up and turned off the light by his bed and walked over to the door. As she turned the knob, Severus mumbled very quietly, "Love you too, Mum."

Through the dark he knew she was smiling, and she softly closed the door behind her.

Severus hated mushiness in all forms, yet that night he didn't feel the need to gag or rinse his mouth out with soap.

He looked at the trees swaying in the night and the wind moaning outside. His mother hadn't done that in years, and though he liked to think it might have been his imagination, he felt something wet slide down his face and a burning sensation in his eyes as he went to sleep that night. Perhaps it was just dust.

**XXX**

Why did she always look at her like she was a piece of wretched garbage?

This was just one of the many things on Lily's mind as she stared at her sister from across the table. There seemed to be a staring contest between the two, in fact. Lily chewed her vegetables steadily as Petunia ate her pork roast in silence. All the while, the latter gave her the most brilliant look of contempt.

"So, Petunia, what are you planning on doing with the Dursleys tomorrow?" Matilda asked through the tense silence around the Evans table.

"I plan on meeting Vernon's sister, Marge," Petunia explained, speaking of this "Marge" as though she were the Queen of England. "I hear she is a real riot. Other than that, a nice, comfortable, relaxing time with Vernon and his family."

Lily scoffed into her roast.

"And what on Earth is so funny about that, freak?" Petunia snapped.

"Petunia!" Edward barked. "We've told you not to call your sister that name."

"She can't help it, Dad," Lily informed jerkily. "Being a nasty old tosser is in her nature."

"Girls!" Edward started. _"You,_ Petunia, are an adult. And _you,_ Lily, are a young lady. Both you girls better start acting your age, especially at the dinner table!"

"Edward is right!" Matilda agreed, putting down her knife. "It's Christmas Eve and we only see each other during the holidays. Let's make the most of it, girls."

Lily didn't understand why their parents still tried to get the two girls to get along like they used to. They knew when this all started. Of course, there had always been the average disagreements between siblings, but they knew when their relationship really began to dwindle. It was all initiated by Petunia…all because of what Lily was.

The Evanses finished their dinner quietly, and then made their way to the living room. Edward insisted they enjoy a nice comfortable evening around the fireplace while they munched on the chocolate chip biscuits and milk Matilda had prepared earlier. The warm room and the sweet afters made Lily drowsy. The flames crackled and let off a lovely aroma; the quiet sounds of her mother and sister in deep discussion and the rustling of her father reading the paper seemed so far away. She was close to shutting her eyes when the flames went from the typical orange and yellow flame to vibrant green. The Evanses all yelped, surprise plastered on their faces. Yet the look on Petunia's face was unforgettable: she spilled milk all over herself and her mouth was open in fright and shock; her pale blue eyes about to fall out of their sockets. She looked paralysed.

"'Lo, Lily!" said none other than Marlene, her head floating in the green flames. "Lucky I caught—oh Merlin," Marlene paused as she looked at the other people in the room. "Oh…sorry…I seem to have come at a bad time!"

Lily chuckled and moved closer to the flames. "Well…you can't blame us can you? Your head suddenly appeared in the fireplace!"

"Sorry," Marlene said, clearly embarrassed. "Hello, Mister and Missus Evans! Sorry about this."

"'Salright, Marlene," Matilda tittered nervously.

"Happy Christmas," was all Edward said, nodding towards the girl.

"You too. And who are you?" Marlene looked over Lily's shoulder, straight at Petunia, who still getting over the intrusion.

"That's Petunia," Lily said lacking enthusiasm. "I'm sure you remember me talking about her."

"Oh," Marlene said, also lacking gusto. Lily told her plenty about Petunia, most of which was hardly positive. "Good evening."

Petunia quickly excused herself to bed, muttering things about fireplaces as she stomped off.

"So, what's up, Marlene? Oh! You've changed your hair!" Lily noticed the afro haircut that now graced Marlene's head.

"Yep, I gave in. It's not so much of a hassle. Not too bad, though, is it? My parents like it," Marlene asked, twisting her head from side to side.

"Looks perfect," Lily smiled.

"Anyway, have you heard about Alice?" asked Marlene, still looking around the room.

"No, not a thing. Why? Is something wrong?" Lily asked hurriedly.

"Oh, no, no, no. She's fine. Saw her yesterday when I went with Mum to work at the Ministry. I caught her and Frank getting rather…friendly," Marlene smirked.

Lily could feel her parent's eyes on her back but tried to ignore them.

"I saw them eating lunch together yesterday and she and Frank were laughing and carrying on. And then guess who shows up and starts to make trouble?" Marlene said.

"Who?"

"Narcissistic Black's boyfriend… Forget his first name, but—you know, that Malfoy bloke that gave you a hard time in first year?" Marlene grimaced.

"Lucius Malfoy?" Lily recalled bitterly, though she was amused by Marlene's new nickname for the cold blonde.

"Yeah, him. He starts speaking some sort of rubbish to Frank, and—"

"Marlene…where were you while all this was going on?"

"Watching from around the corner, of course!" Marlene said as though it were the most obvious place to be in the world. "Anyway, Malfoy and Frank start to pull out wands but before they could do anything, _Alice_ hexes the Malfoy brute!"

"Wait, but what about using magic outside of Hogwarts Grounds. I mean, it wasn't much of an emergency was it?" Lily wondered.

"With as much magic that's going around the Ministry of Magic on a typical day the ministry would hardly detect it very well," Marlene said.

"Are you serious?" Lily asked, completely shocked. Alice was one to complain about unfairness and violence and could certainly bad-mouth, but Lily couldn't remember Alice ever actually hexing someone.

Marlene nodded and grinned. "A right nasty one too. The man had horrible boils all over that pretty-boy face of his. He nearly shrieked. I think he was about to do something worse but some Ministry worker—an official by the looks of it—strolled by and questioned Malfoy about his appearance and the other two left in the opposite direction as soon as possible."

"Wow…Alice," Lily said, still in slight disbelief. "Then what?"

"Well, I heard Frank say something about the hex being 'absolutely wicked' as they walked past and then I stepped on a piece of chewed-up Droobles," Marlene ended lamely.

"I always knew those two had potential," Lily sighed happily. "I really do think they'd make a great couple."

"Speaking of couple," Marlene started. "When are you going to give us the full scoop on Alexander? Emmeline said you two kissed, but—"

"Marlene," Lily hissed.

"Well, just tell me how it was on a scale of one through ten. Ten being 'bloody mind-blowing' and one being 'oh Merlin, did I just kiss the giant squid?'. He seems like he'd be a seven—"

"Well, Marlene, it's getting pretty late. Happy Christmas. Your present will be sent by owl tomorrow," Lily finished hastily.

"Wait! You haven't even told me what his lips felt like. Did he have any stubble?" Marlene asked.

_"Good night,_ Marlene," Lily insisted with a firm look.

Marlene sighed confusedly. "Night, Lils."

With that, the green flame died down and reduced to its original state, the yellow and orange flames flaring and crackling joyfully.

Lily stood up and turned back to her parents and grew nervous as she saw her mother grin knowingly and her father distract himself with the newspaper.

"Who is this Alexander boy?" Matilda asked shrewdly. "Do you have a _boyfriend,_ Lily?"

Edward shifted in his seat.

"Well…" There was no point in lying. "Yeah, sort of."

"And you two kissed?" Matilda asked, a beam building with every syllable.

"Erm…sure," Lily said quietly.

"Oh darling!" Matilda jumped up and hugged Lily. "Oh, you're growing up…growing up so much. You have a boyfriend and…have been kissed and... Was it your first?"

"Mum!" Lily groaned.

Matilda pulled away and smiled at her youngest daughter. "Tell us about this boy."

"Matilda, it really is getting late," Edward said, standing up and taking his time folding his paper and removing his reading glasses from off the bridge of his nose. "I'm off to bed." He mounted the stairs in silence.

"Don't worry about him," Matilda whispered. "He's not ready to have proof that you aren't a little girl anymore. You saw how he was about Petunia's formers."

"Petunia also seemed to attract the strangest, sleaziest men…" Lily pointed out.

"No matter," her mother said, trying to change the subject. "Now tell me more about this boy!"

"Well…his name is Alexander. And…he is…a boy…" Lily said.

"Well I'd hope so," Matilda chuckled. "Go on."

It felt so awkward to talk to her mother about him: About which house he was in ("Oh, so he is smart?" Matilda asked), what he looked like ("Sounds cute!" Matilda nodded), and the fact that he was Muggle-born ("Does he live in London? We can invite him over for dinner!" Matilda suggested).

"Mum, please!" Lily said; her cheeks were tingling with blush. "Dad's right. It's getting late. Don't want to catch St. Nicolas, do we?"

"No, I suppose not…" Matilda said, kissing Lily on the forehead. "I've mortified you enough for one day."

The Evans women turned in different directions once at the top of the stairs. Lily passed Petunia's room, lights off and light snoring sounding through the door as she edged past and into her room.

The poster and photo-covered walls greeted her in the bright glow of her overhead lamp. A few clothes lay strewn across the floor as well as a few books, but other than that her room was relatively clean. Her records were lined up nicely in their nook, books on an antique wooden bookcase. Her vanity was close to the fairly large window, which gave a view of the suburban street, lawns, and lampposts, which blazed a dim orange on that Christmas Eve night. It was then that she realised that it had begun to snow ever so lightly, outside.

As the hazy thoughts of gifts and Christmas dinner filled her head, Lily lazily put on warm nightclothes and curled up in her bed, contemplating her day. After briefly thinking about her sister's behaviour, Alice's hex, and Alexander, her thoughts settled on what she had done earlier that evening, right before dinner. She had been hesitant about buying Severus a gift, at first; ultimately knowing she wouldn't receive one in return. But some force had seemed to make her buy that gift for him during her last visit to Diagon Alley with Emmeline.

And wasn't the spirit of giving what the holidays were all about?

"Yes, yes it is," Lily said to herself before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

**XXX**

Early that Christmas morning, James was feeling rather pleased with himself. His presents he had received that year were the best he had gotten in all his sixteen years. That afternoon, while Sirius smoked a cigarette by the window, James was finishing up an entire box of chocolates given to him from a random third-year and getting ready to accomplish the task of the day: sending off his gift to Lily.

"You still haven't told me what you got Evans," Sirius said. "You're protecting it like a child. You aren't going to send her one through the post, are you, mate? Because I have a gut feeling that that's kinda sorta illegal."

"It's not a child," James said, walking over to his bedside table, opening the drawer, and pulling out an avocado-green bag.

"What's in the bag, then?" Sirius asked. "A book for the little swot?"

"That's what Moony suggested I give her, but I wasn't going to waste my money giving Evans a bloody book!" James snorted, waving the bag around. "This, my friend, is something ten times better than any book."

"Well, what the fuck is it?" Sirius asked, coughing slightly as smoke issued out of his mouth in wisps.

James threw the bag at Sirius. "Find out for yourself, but be careful. It's delicate."

"Is that why you threw it across the room?" Sirius chuckled and took another drag. Before plunging his hand into the gift, he took a look at the bag.

"This must be some sort of mistake, because the bag says 'Becca's Best'," Sirius frowned.

"No mistake, mate," James smirked, wiggling his brows.

"But isn't that the place with all the knickers and stuff?" Sirius asked slowly.

"Yup!" James beamed.

Sirius raised an eyebrow and opened the bag. He thrust his cigarette out of his mouth and let out the loud, barking laughter he was known for, nearly doubling over as he pulled out a hot pink, lacy, and incredibly short nightie with one hand.

"What?" James questioned. "What's wrong with it?"

"Oh God, I'm just imagining the look on Evans' face when she gets this. You better start writing your will, Prongs," Sirius said between giggles and began to fiddle with the expensive, tantalizing garment.

"For you information, Pad, this is exactly what women want as a gift," James said knowingly. He went over to his bedside table again and pulled out a two–week-old copy of _Witch Weekly_ and threw that at Sirius as well. It landed on the floor next to Sirius' socked foot; the cover depicting a famous, longhaired blonde witch in tight-fitted green and red robes, waving.

"Why do you have this in your room?" Sirius asked.

"That's not important. Turn to page twenty-three." James blushed.

Snorting, Sirius began to read the headline at the top of the page. "'Top ten things witches want for Christmas from their partners'."

"Now go to number two," James said, folding his arms across his chest.

"'Sexy lingerie'," Sirius read bemusedly.

"See! This is what women want for Christmas. Lily is a woman, thus, she must want it. Makes perfect sense, don't it? And you thought I was crazy!" James cried.

"Well, if this was a test of your sanity, you certainly fail," Sirius said, reading the rest of the list. "I can just imagine how Moony would react if he knew you bought Evans this. He'd probably weep. By the way, you probably should have stayed away from this pink."

"Why?" James asked.

"Well, with the red hair and that lovely frock, she'll look very…pimple-like. Redheads have enough trouble looking good in pink makeup, let alone an outfit," Sirius explained, flipping through the woman's magazine.

"…WHY DO YOU KNOW THIS, YOU GREAT POUF?" James exclaimed.

Sirius scoffed. "Just because I know a thing or two about what looks good on a girl doesn't make me a pouf. Oh, and another little problem with your brilliant plan: Evans isn't your partner."

"So? She will be after this. Can't you read? THIS IS WHAT WOMEN WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!" James pointed at the nightie and beamed.

"By 'women' they mean women who can actually stand to be in the same room as the giver of the gift without popping a blood vessel!" Sirius chortled.

"You'll see," James said and grabbed the article of clothing from Sirius and this time heading for his desk drawers, pulling out delicate green wrapping paper and ribbon.

"Now you have _that_ stuff in your room?" Sirius exclaimed in disbelief. "Lord, what's next? Moony's trousers?"

James paused and scrunched up his face, trying to remember something. "Well, actually, he _did_ leave a pair of his socks here the last time he came over…I forget where they are, though. Argyle, I think…I should probably remind him when he comes over for New Year's Eve."

"Oh, Lord," Sirius said, continuing to stare at James with amusement plastered across his face as James folded and wrapped the gift in multiple layers of delicate green wrapping paper, pulling it all together with a ruby-red ribbon. "Is that going to have a letter attached, or will she just get a nightie from an undisclosed being? Both are pretty scary."

"Stuff it, will you? I have that ready," James muttered and grabbed a letter from off his desk with Lily's name on the front in James' messy handwriting. "Wrote it last night."

"You were pissed last night." Sirius grinned wolfishly.

"I wrote it _before_ I was pissed," James corrected. "This wrapping is weather–proof, so it should be fine getting to Evans."

"Well, get a damn owl and get on with it. I'm getting bored," Sirius declared, finishing off his cigarette throwing it out the window.

James did just that and the two Marauders roamed lazily around the house, searching for hidden presents and drinking firewhiskey to warm them up that cold day…and because the holidays seemed to embrace drunkenness.

**XXX**

He always rose early on Christmas morning. Maybe it was the little boy buried deep within him that caused him to do so. Severus quickly got dressed (in trousers and a heavy jumper, due to the cold) and went downstairs. Looking out the window briefly, he discovered that the car was gone: Tobias wasn't home. His heart lifted as he looked under the Christmas tree. There were a couple of presents addressed to him under there, and a small gift in his old stocking; there was even one gift in the fireplace, having come by owl post. Severus was glad the fireplace wasn't left burning through the night or the gift may have been burnt to a crisp by morning. He grabbed the gifts marked for him, ran back upstairs, and quickly sorted through them: a book on the history of magic and another on influential and controversial wizards and witches from his mother, some sweets from Regulus, a Muggle jacket from his father, and a ad looking chestnut in the stocking. He suddenly remembered the scarf that Lily had given him, which was folded neatly on his desk with her letter resting on top. Shaking his head, he took his eyes off the present and, after looking through and at each of his gifts, he decided to wake his mother.

He walked down the creaky, dark hallway until he reached his parents' room, only to find their bed empty and made up. Curious, he checked the closed bathroom door. He knocked on the door but there was no answer.

"Mother?" he called. Still no answer.

"Mother, would you like some tea?" Severus asked through the door, expecting to get an answer his second time around.

"Mother!" he called again, louder, but Eileen's distinctive voice wasn't heard. "If this is your idea of a joke, I'm finding it hard to find any humour in it!" he yelled through the heavy door. Thinking that perhaps she wasn't inside, he looked around the rest of the house: no sign of his mother. So he went back to that closed door once more.

"Mother?" he called again, still no response. No soft crying, so water running…silence. Severus twisted the doorknob: it wouldn't disengage no matter how much as he pulled and turned and wriggled the knob; it remained resistant. He finally pushed the difficult entrance with the help of his shoulder and the door finally budged open, looked down, and saw familiar-looking feet at the edge of the door. He pushed the door open all the way and his stomach plummeted down through his feet, through the floorboard, past the foundation, and possibly to hell itself. His eyes were wide with terror and utter disbelief as he found himself looking at the limp body of his mother, her face down against the floor tiles, and wearing the same attire she was dressed in yesterday. Her arms were spread out in what would be elegant positions; elegant but lifeless. Her left hand was flaccid and gently curled at the knuckles while her right was in a loose fist.

He quickly fell to his knees and shook her shoulder. Maybe she is asleep. Fainted, he hoped. But she didn't move a muscle. Instead her body felt colder than usual, certainly below normal body temperature. He then attempted to turn her over and what he saw made his stomach lurch and it took every ounce of him not to turn to the toilet and vomit. He gagged and closed his eyes, praying, praying to God, praying to _anyone_ that he didn't see what he thought he just saw; hoping this was a hallucination, a nightmare.

He slowly opened his eyes and came to the daunting realization that this was not, in fact, a dream at all; nor a nightmare. There Eileen lay on the cold, cramped bathroom floor: dark blood dribbled out the corner of her mouth and smudged slightly on her cheek and the tile ground. Her eyes were wide open and lifeless; her face had the faintest tinge of blue from the blood collecting there. Dark circles rested under her eyelids as well—from lack of sleep or lack of life, Severus didn't know.

She was dead…there was no use denying it. His mother was _dead_.

His eyes fell across the scene around him and he caught a glimmer of pink enclosed in Eileen's limp hand. Focusing on the bright colour he found a multi-faceted cerise glass vial without a top. His shaky hands reached for the object and he cautiously inhaled at the opening. He distinctly picked up the strong odour of hellebore, often used in poisons… _Poison_. His mind was spinning and he honestly couldn't envision his mother knowingly taking poison. Suicide? No…his mother was perfectly fine last night. But her words of care and warning slowly came back to his mind: they all seemed so very final.

The surrealism of the entire situation increased tenfold when he heard the front door creak open and slam shut

"Severus! Make a cuppa or get your mum t'do it!" Tobias called from below, his footsteps mounting the stairs. Severus quickly got up and ran out of the bathroom, out of the bedroom, and right into his father.

"Happy Christmas…now make me a cuppa," Tobias grunted. Severus didn't realize his eyes were still as wide as saucers and but Tobias noticed his son's body shaking. "What on this good green Earth has got'n into ya?"

Severus' breathing started to come in strangled gasps and gags, his body starting to react from the shock.

Tobias looked startled. "Where is Eileen? Maybe she'll know what the hell is wrong with ya." Tobias proceeded to make his way into the bedroom, not yet reaching the bathroom.

"Gone," Severus managed to croak.

"What?" Tobias said. "Speak up!"

"Dead," Severus said louder, staring at his father unblinkingly.

"Are you sick?" Tobias frowned as he shrugged off his heavy coat and throwing it on the bed. Becoming frustrated by his ignorance, Severus pointed to the bathroom weakly. Tobias Snape raised an eyebrow at his son but followed his finger.

"What in the Lord's name is this all about, Sever—" he stopped as he looked through the open bathroom door. He backed away from the scene slowly, his eyes as wide as Severus'. He turned to him sharply, his body shaking, mouth opening and closing over and over again. "What did you do to her? I ASKED WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER, BOY?"

"Nothing," Severus replied weakly. "Found her…"

Tobias began saying the Lord's name in vain and carried on. Severus found himself too emotionally drained to care. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph" were the last things he heard before slumping against the wall and passing out.

**XXX**

Lily found herself relieved when Petunia gathered up her presents and bid her parents goodbye the next morning; of course, not saying a thing to Lily. Earlier that morning Lily had sent gifts off to her friends and Alexander by owl and was pleased when she received Christmas gifts from various owls later that morning. She felt her heart flutter ever so slightly when she spotted an unfamiliar owl and nearly squealed when she found a parcel wrapped in Muggle wrapping paper depicting Rudolf, St. Nicholas, and overstuffed stockings. Tearing the paper apart like a starving woman opening a box full of food for her children, she found a neatly-written letter asking her how she was, telling her how much he missed her, etc. She made a mental note to reply to him as soon as possible, and was delighted to find _Aurora Leigh_ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning inside. He must have really been paying attention on the train when she said she enjoyed Browning's work.

The Evans family, sans Petunia, ate breakfast slowly, without a rush or worry in the world. It was Christmas, after all! You're supposed to be surrounded by family, warming up by the fire and breathing in the fresh pine scents of an ornamented tree with a hot bowl of porridge and a plate of meats, eggs, and toast covered in marmite.

Afternoon approached and Lily was cuddled up in heavy blankets, records playing and presents open around her room, when there was yet _more_ pecking on the window. Frustrated at having to get up from her comfy position, she walked across the room and quickly opened the window so that too much snow wouldn't get in. She then took the parcel out of the owl's cold talons and the bird, apparently, decided to rest a while from the harsh cold. After the window was closed once more she noticed the messily wrapped parcel with lovely wrapping paper. A card was placed within the string and she felt her heart plummet.

"Not…again," Lily muttered as she glared at her name gracing the outside of the letter: Potter's handwriting. "Oh Lord."

Against her better judgment, she opened the letter and yelped as the parchment began to talk…loudly…and it simply oozed James Potter.

_HAPPY CHRISTMAS, EVANS, MY LOVELY LITTLE LILY BUD!_

_I HOPE YOU LIKE MY GIFT. THE CARD TOO! HAPPY CHRISTMAS! I BET THAT PRICK ALEXANDER'S GIFT WASN'T LIKE THIS! THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU WANT! I KNOW THAT BECAUSE YOU ARE A WOMAN. YOU'LL UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU OPEN THE GIFT!_

_LOVE, THE ONE AND ONLY JAMES DORIAN POTTER!_

_P.S. THIS REPEATS ITSELF SO YOU CAN HEAR MY LOVELY VOICE ALL CHRISTMAS LONG!_

_HAPPY CHRISTMAS, EVANS, MY LOVELY LITTLE LILY BUD!_

_I HOPE YOU LIKE MY—_

"—I hope you like _your_ trip to the bottom of my trunk!" Lily said, crumbling the paper and muffling the voice before stuffing and locking it to its promised destination.

That was just the card.

She held out a forlorn hope that something better might be in the parcel, so she slowly opened it.

No such luck.

She stared at the hot-pink nightie in abject repulsion, feeling it within her hands and holding it up arms length in front of her. Though…she had to admit it _did_ look nice: the silk felt lovely in her hands and it _was_ her size—

"THIS IS FROM POTTER!" Lily reminded herself aloud, and threw the nightie in the truck with its companion, which was still singing away in a low muffled pattern.

She felt her anger and embarrassment course at the pit of her stomach. The nerve of him! The nerve of him to send her such a gift when he knew full well she had a boyfriend! And what about Florence? Was their relationship finished, over, kaput, history? Was it to be remembered at the most popular ephemeral romance of first term? Did the ball or the trip home or a bludgeon to the head make his feelings flood back to her?

"No, no, no, no, no," Lily sighed, and suddenly took off the opal necklace Potter had given her all those weeks ago and placed it on her vanity table, ignoring the buzzing sensation around her neck and the spot above the crevice of her bosom where the opal pendant usually rested. It felt too wrong to wear it now…now that he seemed to fancy her once more.

She wouldn't stand for him sending her such gifts, would she? _No, I won't!_ Lily thought angrily, and grabbed some spare pieces of paper and a pen from her desk and quickly writing a very displeased letter to Potter. After she was finished with her writing and as her fingers were sore, she gave the envelope to the owl that was waiting patiently by the window.

She sighed as the letter was finally out of her hair and crawled back to bed, and pulled her covers closer to her body. Reading poetry was the last thing on her mind as she was suddenly plagued by thoughts of James Potter and the nightie of doom.

**XXX**

"'Potter,

"'Your gift was absolutely inappropriate! Half of me wants to return this item to, assumedly, Becca's Best ASAP! However, it _is_ well made nightwear…BUT STILL VERY INAPPROPRIATE!

"'Imagine if Alexander found out about this! You know, Alexander, the bloke who I happen to be _dating_ currently. Little tricks like this are absolutely dim-witted and appalling. Though this gift is, in theory, much more useful than what you sent me _last year_ (which, if memory serves, was a hat that said "Mrs. Potter" on the front), this has got to come to an end. You've been sending me obnoxious letters and gifts for Christmas since fourth year. Leave your pranking at school.

"'In short, Potter: GROW UP.

"'Lily Evans.

"'P.S. I know you got this idea from _Witch Weekly_. I saw you nick a copy off a seventh-year as I was patrolling the train and I happen to know that buying "sexy lingerie" was on that Top Ten list.'"

Sirius, who seemed to be close to laughing himself to death, cut off James' reading of Lily's angry letter. Chewed up chocolate left residue all around his teeth and tongue were showing proudly, and his bark-like laughter was louder than ever.

"You…you nicked it…from…some girl?" Sirius said between gasps.

"I'm not finished!" James snapped. "'P.P.S. Tell Black to stop laughing. It's not funny.'"

"It doesn't say that, you prick," Sirius scoffed.

"I swear, that's what it says," James said gravely.

"I never liked her," Sirius concluded, scraping the melted chocolate from his teeth. "Never been fond of red heads."

"'P.P.P.S. I'm not very fond of _him,_ either, so we're equal'," James read.

Sirius' mouth gaped open.

"You have nothing to worry about. Lily may not be a fan of yours, but half of the female student body at Hogwarts would give a wand and a leg to stand within three feet of you or lick your ankles." James frowned, and flopped on his bed dramatically. "One day, Padfoot. I'm not giving up yet."

"You, my loveless friend, need to get shit-faced. How about that?" Sirius suggested.

"It's three in the afternoon," James pointed out.

"You know that Muggle phrase: Early bird gets the worm," Sirius recited, not realizing he wasn't using the expression correctly.

"Hmm. But it would be better if you were Evans," James sighed.

"Fine." Sirius shrugged and rummaged through James' sock drawer.

"Ahem," James cleared his throat. "What are you doing?"

Sirius turned around and stuffed the multiple socks into his shirt. "There, now I'm sort of like Evans."

"…They don't look like that," James sighed. "They're a lot less lumpy and more…round."

"Tit googler," Sirius mocked.

"Oh, and I suppose you look at women's ears when you talk to them!" James retorted.

"Fair point. Actually, it's kneecaps that make me rather randy." Sirius rolled his eyes. "So you don't like my tits?"

"Don't take it personally. I still have your lovely eyes to swoon over." James puckered up his lips.

"Alcohol now. Kissing later," Sirius concluded.

"Cheers!"

**XXX**

The funeral was set for Thursday.

Tobias seemed more sorrowful about the costs of the funeral than the death of his wife. Severus found it disgusting.

Or maybe it just hadn't sunk in yet for his father. Maybe he should give Tobias the benefit of the doubt.

He scoffed and silently scolded himself for even considering it.

After he passed out that Christmas morning a local inspector had woken him up.

"_Y'alright, lad?" the man asked, his brown eyes and thick brows creasing._

_"I'm fine," Severus replied, still in a slight daze. There were only a few cops in the house, one questioning his father down the hall. The man helped Severus up on his feet._

_"I'm Inspector Hill. I'm sorry fer ya loss this morning," the officer said politely. "I'm sure she was a lovely woman."_

_Severus didn't say anything, still staring down the hallway at his father._

"_Hate gettin' calls on Christmas," the man admitted, trying to make conversation. "But, it's th'job." _

_Severus continued to stare blankly around him._

"_It may have been cardiac arrest or somethin' similar, causing her ta collapse and hit her head, so I'm afraid there was little that could have prevented this," Hill stated in an authoritative voice, as though he had conducted the autopsy all by himself in a matter of minutes. _

_Severus couldn't tell him they were incorrect. They wouldn't believe him anyway. Was he really supposed to tell the police that his mother didn't collapse, but instead committed suicide via a poisonous brew from a pink vial? No, that would cause too much trouble…too much time…too many questions and condescending smiles. Would his mother want the truth revealed? Did she even expect him to figure it out for himself? Did she _want_ him to know the truth?_

_So he nodded. Nodded at the mistaken man and cleared the hallway as emergency officials came through with none other than Eileen's body, covered in a thin white cloth and strapped to a medical board; none of her body peeked from underneath the constricting cloth. It was all lumps…was that all his mother was now? A bunch of covered lumps to be put in a coffin and most likely cremated? _

_The light-headedness he felt when he first found her was coming back to him fast, his knees buckling slightly._

_"Steady there, lad. I know this must be hard for ya," Hill said, steadying him with a firm grip of the shoulder. "Your father too, surely."_

_Severus would have snorted if he weren't so woozy._

_"It'll be hard at first. It sure was when I lost my mam. But after the stress of the funeral and the realisation that she ain't comin' back, t'was alright. And it was nice to get a fair bit of something in return from the will. Certainly helped _my _family some. And she would have liked that, wouldn't she?" Hill said. As though a fucking _will_ could make up for a human being._

_"Don't you worry. Yer father will work out all the technical stuff…probably set up a nice funeral at that little church by the village. I'll be sure to attend." Hill winked, patted Severus on the back, and followed his fellow men out of the house with Tobias (who was speaking to an officer) in tow, not looking Severus in the eye._

_It was then that Severus walked into his room and stared out his window, surprised to see a small crowd gather round the old house; many of them looked even more surprised and started to draw back from their tightly knit mass as the police and emergency officials came out with the body which was quickly put in the ambulance vehicle and most likely off to the nearest hospital. He watched as the small crowd began to corner the police and Tobias, questioning them feverishly; curious as to what disrupted the small milling neighbourhood and their Christmas morning. _

_Seconds later, Severus found himself reclining on his bed, his eyes still tearless, and the headache catching up to him and putting him into a deep slumber._

He later woke up to find an owl pecking insistently at his window with a short letter from Regulus.

_So, how was the loot this year? Get anything good?_

Neighbours came round daily to send condolences to the family of the deceased woman who they hardly even knew, which he found both uncomfortable and incredibly insincere. Severus soon grew tired of answering the door, hearing them say "God bless" and thanking them for their pity. He eventually let them knock on the door for a minute, then, after they'd gone, gathered the cards left underneath the door and the oddly scented candles left on the doormat.

That miserable Christmas Day continued to haunt him, in his dreams, his conscious mind, as he tidied his room, walked within feet of his mother's bedroom…everywhere. As he lay in bed he could swear he heard her quiet footsteps walk down the hallway, one night even convinced that he heard soft sobbing. He told himself it was just the wind, or just the old house settling…but somehow he never felt fully certain.

A couple days passed before Severus actually got around to replying to Regulus' letter. He grabbed the little bit of parchment he had and his nearly broken quill and his lacking ink and wrote a short reply.

_I got a dead mum. Happy Christmas._

**XXX**

Christmas night brought more light snow across Lily's London borough and Boxing Day left her neighbours shovelling snow out of their driveways while children attempted to make snowmen, risking developing a cold as they took off their scarves and earmuffs to use on their creations.

Lily found the weather a bit strange but smiled as she looked out of her window and watched a few children play. She enjoyed watching people…she was a people-watcher…yeah, that's it. They fascinated her, frankly; anyone from the little boy across the road, to the old women buying groceries at the store, or the young men in the city with their piercings and cool hairstyles expressing the new punk movement she kept hearing about.

With this not-so-new hobby of hers came her new tendency to pay attention to body language and try to decipher what they felt, what emotions were boiling within them, what they were going to do next. She found herself observing the various stances of the people around her and imagining what they could possibly mean. That is why, when Lily came downstairs for a cup of tea, she grew nervous as she spotted her mother on the phone in the distance with her back towards Lily; she clutched the phone tightly with her right hand, her left arm was wrapped around her front underneath her sagging bosoms, and her back tensed in intervals of five seconds as she breathed in and out heavily. This only met one thing: Something was wrong. Something bad had happened.

She crept closer to her mother, but her voice was so low now it was impossible to hear what she was saying clearing at all! All Lily caught were the words, "I can't believe it", "years ago", "so happy", "you can't make it?" and "maybe Lily".

Lily's ears perked. Now _she_ was involved? Lily found her heartbeat quickening as she moved even closer to her mother. The warm flannel nightclothes she wore didn't prevent her from a cold sweat appearing on her forehead, or pooling at the small of her back.

"Okay. How about you come round here when you get a chance and stay for a day or two? Sound good? Alright. Thank you for telling me, Ruth," Matilda said quietly. Ruth? Ruth was her mother's friend who lived up north. What on Earth was Ruth missing that Matilda suggested Lily go to instead that was so hard to believe?

Her mother let out a deep, shuddering sigh and put the heels of her palms to her temples; her elbows rested against the kitchen counter as she rubbed her eyes with the pads of her fingers.

"Mum?" Lily asked uncertainly. "What's wrong? Where do you want me to go?"

Matilda gasped. "Blimey, girl! You scared me half to…death."

"Sorry…but—"

"An old friend of mine died yesterday morning," Matilda said slowly. "Ruth and I knew her pretty well for a few years, ages ago, but we just…lost contact."

"Oh wow," Lily said quietly. "How'd you know her?"

"We—we being your dad, me, and you as well—went to visit Ruth over a decade ago. Pet was visiting Grandmum and you were just a little over a year old and we wanted to show you off. And we met her at a teashop with her child. Probably around your age now. We started talking and hit it off. Kept in contact on and off for a long while, until you were about seven or so and we just couldn't seem to get a hold of each other anymore," Matilda explained. "But Ruth just heard about it yesterday and she can't make it to the funeral because she already made plans to go out of town that week…"

"What was her name? The…the woman who died?" Lily asked.

"Eileen…I feel like a right fool for not remembering her last name! But we always just called her Eileen," Matilda said softly. "She took her life… Bless her."

"Lord." Lily shuddered. "I'm so sorry, Mum."

"S'alright, I'm just in shock, really. But, you should come with me. We hardly spent time together during summer," Matilda said.

"How much bonding time will we have during a funeral?" Lily whined.

"I'll want some company going all the way up there," Matilda said.

"I didn't even know the woman, though," Lily reasoned. Frankly, she just didn't want to go to a funeral during the holidays!

"Ruth tells me that the invite is rather open. Any family, friends, or neighbours can go and pay their respects."

"What about Dad?" Lily suggested.

"He's been planning on going to some dodgy furniture store in Hackney for weeks now. I don't know what it is about men and furniture…" Matilda said.

"Pet?" She knew she was really desperate now.

"Petunia would first scrub the toilet with her bare hands," Matilda muttered. "And she is going out with Vernon anyway at that new restaurant in the city."

"Why oh why does everyone have plans that day?" Lily sighed.

"Come now, you've been inside this house practically all holiday. You need to move your legs around. The funeral itself shouldn't be _too_ long," Matilda coaxed.

Lily was quiet for nearly a minute, weighing the pros (if any) and cons of going to the funeral of this old friend of her mother's.

"Mum," she sighed. "I just…"

"We only have a little bit of porridge left. I need to go to the market and get some more Earl Grey." Her mother changed the subject quickly and began to boil some water and get out a few eggs from the refrigerator. "Lord, we're running out of sugar, too—"

Was she being disrespectful to the deceased? Was she being selfish for not wanting to go with her mother for _one day_ to a funeral? Was she so horrible for instead desiring to curl up in front of the TV and watch broadcastings of _It's a Wonderful Life,_ despite Christmas passing, or maybe _Doctor Who_ reruns?

Yes…yes she was.

"What should I wear?"

* * *

A/N 2: I hope that isn't considered a cliffhanger…I realized that I have yet to really write one yet. Maybe later in the story. So, as usual, please read and review and tell me what you thought of this chapter, my writing in general, characterization, politics, what you had for dinner, whatever you'd like! Reviews are seriously like crack for us fic writers!

Chapter 17 may take a little while since school is in full gear now, but I try to write as much as I possibly can when I have the free time. Next up: the funeral and maybe a twist or two. :)


	17. Ink and Hand

A/N:I should be ducking rotten fruits and vegetables right now! I'm so sorry I haven't gotten around to updating. School and my birthday (on the fourteenth of November) and a bunch of other commitments got in the way. Anyway, onward!

* * *

_**X Ink and hand**_

"Straighten out ya tie, Severus," Tobias Snape grunted briskly to his son, walking down the narrow hallway with furrowed brows and a heavy coat. It was black with loosely sewn cuffs and wrinkles all over. It was also, quite possibly, the fanciest jacket in the entire Snape household. "And ya need to get a belt. These trousers are too ruddy big. When will ya build a fuckin' frame? And for Christ's sake do something with that hair of yours!"

Tobias grabbed a pack of fags from a nearby table before telling Severus he'd be waiting in the car and that he'd best "get his arse out the door quickly".

A heavy sigh escaped the sallow teen as he scratched his scalp and walked to his room in search of the blasted accessory. He finally found it in an old dresser drawer by his wardrobe, lying sadly next to shirts and pairs of trousers he hadn't worn since around 1968. He buckled on the leaden brown belt and before walking out the door he glanced at himself in the mirror. The dour visage reflected back at him was no surprise to Severus. The tense muscles above his brows dug deep into his skin; his nose, if possible, looked even bigger than usual; the corners of his mouth, certainly not lifting, were not wilting either. On the contrary, they remained in a thin, straight line.

He attempted to relax his harsh expression, unwind his scowl and pale lips. Severus tried to lift the sides of his mouth into a smile. It didn't last long. It wasn't so much a smile as the perverse grimace of a madman and it truly startled him. He decided he was better off looking authentic, which meant a sullen expression.

Severus' fingers gingerly began to straighten out his grey tie as he gave himself a once-over before speed-walking down the narrow staircase, through the cramped, musty sitting room, and out the door.

Tobias' car's motor revved up on the wet cobblestone street, damp from the melted remnants of the previous night's light snowfall. Now it was windy. Wind with a wicked chill that pierced through his skin and made a beeline straight for the antechambers of his heart, making him quiver and pull his jacket tighter around his torso.

The door of the passenger seat creaked and screeched as Severus shut it. He found his father trying to light a cigarette between his cupped hands and he soon prevailed, taking in a deeper drag than usual. Tobias squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers; a gesture that Severus had unknowingly acquired from him. He exhaled again, this time his own carbon dioxide, and turned to his son.

"Alright?" he mumbledgenuine concern in his disposition Severus shrugged, and gave his father a sideways look, but did a double take and really looked hard at his father's face and shuddered by how hauntingly similar they looked to one another: same pale skin, large hooked nose, lean frame, dark hair and eyes…but that mirror image was suddenly altered as his father took another drag.

"Nervous?" he asked, smoke issuing out of his large nostrils. The motor was still running, but they have yet to have moved along the road.

"Not particularly," Severus lied, pushing a strand of his stringy black hair from out of his face and behind his ear.

Tobias sighed and picked up his pack of cigarettes again and lit a fresh one, offering it to Severus.

"Here, this'll loosen you up a bit," Tobias said, as though doing Severus a huge favour. Severus looked at the smoking white stick. "Don't just waste it, boy."

"I don't want it," Severus scoffed, still eyeing the cigarette. "It's unhealthy, stains your teeth, smells horrid, bad for you lungs—"

"Don't start actin' like a fuckin' pansy, Severus, and take the damn fag." Tobias heaved a sigh of exasperation. _What an imbecile,_ Severus thought as he growled, snatched the smoking cigarette from his father, and inhaled angrily. He quickly regretted it, however, as he started coughing and tasting the sick essence of tobacco and tar interacting with his saliva; his nose burning from the smoke.

Tobias chuckled and put the car into drive. "Can't even smoke a fag," he cried.

"Well, sorry," Severus coughed again. "For not being experienced in the art of smoking."

The car was slowly filling up with an overpowering smell of tobacco, and Severus felt his head start to throb. Looking out the car window at the trees and the looming mill was hardly helping

"You're wasting it again," Tobias said, sobering up from his derisive comments.

"It isn't food. You're acting as though I should be thinking about starving child in a third world—" Severus snapped.

"—God damn it! You've got Eileen's nerve!" Tobias exclaimed, clutching the wheel tighter with his large hands and taking another drag before his demeanour changed once again from irritation to grief. And with that, Severus took another drag of the fuming cigarette. He coughed again in a big huff of smoke. Now he was frustrated. He was suddenly determined to take a drag without coughing up a lung. And he did, on his third attempt, without a single cough or wheeze.

Nearly half an hour passed, and they were still driving along the village. Tobias was on his second smoke of the day and Severus was finishing his first one off, amusing himself with the poison he emitted from his lips, watching it dissolve into nothingness and becoming one with the air in the small car. Why he kept smoking and flicking the ashes and watching the smoke expel from his nose due to the inane suggestion of his father, he didn't know. He liked to think he was just stressed. It _wouldn't _become a habit. And it did make him feel slightly better. It was just a mediocre stress reliever. It wasn't as if he actually enjoyed it. He was no fool. Or so he fancied himself believing.

His momentary decent mood quickly turned sour as he felt the car slow down and turn right, into a dirt driveway that led to a small building. It looked quaint from a far, resembling a large small house and surrounded wet, frostbitten grass and leafless trees. As the car edged closer he noticed chipped paint and cracked stone stairs leading up to the entrance of a large mahogany door and the building certainly looked different closer up. Only a couple of cars were parked. Severus assumed a few more would arrive. Most of them would be neighbours who had found out about the death, and most of them would hardly know who Eileen was, and probably felt obligated to go, rather than feeling genuine compassion or grief. But it was a rather open funeral, or so Tobias planned. They didn't have the time, and good Lord they didn't have the money, to send out private announcements. The car stopped; the cigarette was no more than a stub and was quickly thrown on the gravel as father and son stepped out of their car. Tobias was decked out in his best jacket, wearing his best trousers and his most formal dress shoes as the wind and dead leaves whipped around them. The heels of their shoes clicked and clunked along the pavement, each step louder than the last and each step closer and closer to the end of a chapter in his life, and onto a next, quite possibly worse, more gruesome and melancholy one.

**XXX**

Lily Evans was not in a good mood…at all. The train ride up had consisted of trying to read the book Alexander gave her and listening to her mother drone on about current events. She couldn't concentrate. It was too damn cold, too damn hard to read while in motion, and there was a damn five-year-old girl constantly approaching her and asking her questions. She was a precious girl, really, very cute with curly pigtails and big brown eyes; but after being asked "whatcha doin'?" for the seventeenth time within three minutes, she had had enough. Even sleeping proved to be difficult! By the time she disembarked the train Lily was ready to get on her hands and knees and kiss the ground like an immigrant. However, that was also difficult due to an extremely assertive elderly man pushing past everyone on the train. And the ground was too cold anyway, she supposed. Not to mention the fact that her lipstick may have attracted bits of gravel.

The town was much like she thought Lancanshire would look: tough and old–fashioned, yet somewhat picturesque and interesting.

After nearly an hour of searching for a cab, the Evans women arrived at a small, sad-looking crematorium along the side of a country road, surrounded by dying foliage and dirt. Lily found it rather gloomy as she walked up the stone staircase and through the double doors. The entrance hall was a little full, and people turned around as the doors leading to the main room opened and shut. Many seemed to be rather acquainted with one another as they laughed and talked with one another with such a casual air that Lily could tell that her mother felt uncomfortable.

"So, let's find a seat, shall we?" Matilda instructed, and the women found a seat on a cushioned bench in the middle of the aisle to the left of the main walkway. Matilda briefly chatted to the old Yorkshire woman beside her, while Lily began to lick her lips and look at her watch and tap her foot like a madwoman.

"It should have started already," Lily commented as she looked around the dim room and the buzzing crowd.

"Don't rush a funeral," Matilda chided as she excused herself from the woman. "It will start any minute now. I wonder where Eileen's husband is? Oh, what was his name? Started with a P? Paul? Was it Paul? No, no, no, not Paul. Keith? No, not that either. Perhaps Gregory? Yes! Yes it was Gregory! The son too! Spencer, I think. I wonder how he is faring?"

"I'm sure not so well, Mum," Lily whispered, trying to comprehend how a boy her age could bear his mother taking her own life, and on Christmas morning? Quite possibly the worst day of the year to do such a thing!

"Oh, that must be them, dear!" Matilda grabbed Lily's wrist and turned around in their seats towards a small group of mourners giving whispered condolences to two figures. Lily spotted the tallest first. He wasn't a very attractive man; possibly in his forties, with a very large nose and large ears. He looked slightly uneasy. She scanned the crowd of women and men dressed in homely suits and dresses and skirts until her eyes fell on an old woman who seemed to be in deep conversation with a tall young man, nearly the same height as the man she had seen. Half of his body was obscured by the woman's unnecessarily large, black, frilly hat, but the moment she gave him a pat on the back and walked away, Lily's stomach clenched.

_No, it can't be,_ Lily told herself over and over and over again and nearly laughed by the absurdity of what she was witnessing. But seconds later, the young man's line of vision landed directly on Lily.

**XXX**

_I think I'm on drugs,_ Severus contemplated, in a complete stupor. _Yes…that's it: drugs. Or maybe that cigarette was laced with something…_

He refused to believe that he stood in the same room as Lily Evans. Lily. Evans. _School_ Lily Evans. The girl he had received a gift from just the other day, one of the most popular witches at Hogwarts, and quite possibly the _last_ person he expected to see at his mother's funeral.

He was enthralled by the sight of her, scant feet away from him in a dark grey button-up dress and black pea–coat, with her dark red hair contrasting the gloomy garb. She was staring right back at him, her red lips open slightly and her green eyes wide yet blank. He hardly felt his father nudging him along the centre aisle towards the front row. She just _had_ to sit in the row seat. She just _had_ to stare at him with the indiscretion that only Lily could possess with those bothersome green eyes of hers. And she just _had _to wear a perfume that tickled his nose and make him—

"ACHOO!" Severus sneezed.

"Bless you!" Several people chirped and some simpered at the irony. He, on the other hand, felt nothing but pure embarrassment.

He hardly had to take another step when he heard horrid organ music start playing. Where did that come from, anyway? Where on Earth was the organ player— Oh, it was a record player hiding in the corner of the stage…and then there was the coffin. He hadn't noticed it before that moment, but there it stood on the raised floor. A few melting candles surrounded the tomb, as well as a few flowers.

"Very simple, yeah?" Tobias whispered in Severus' ear over the tune.

Severus nodded.

"All we could afford. The will's gonna be handled soon, though," Tobias shrugged and straightened out his jacket.

The prayers began seconds later, and soon the first hymn—'Abide With Me', he noticed—was sung, accompanied by horrible organ music. And thus began the half-hearted and terribly disjointed singing. It was almost embarrassing how hard it was for some people to be the slightest bit in tune.

He turned his head slightly as he mouthed the words of the cheery hymn to look at Lily again, who was facing forward and singing along. It was strange; she looked so at peace, with the glow of the lights of the main room illuminating her and her mouth moving with the lyrics—in perfect timing, he realized. And as though she had eyes at the sides of her head she looked towards him again and her mouth stumbled but she soon collected the pattern of the uplifting hymn and her eyes didn't leave his own…like she was singing _at him_. And momentarily, in that cold crematorium, he didn't feel so alone.

**XXX**

And they stared at each other for what felt like hours. Really getting a good look at each other, and Lily assumed that he, like her, was wondering why the hell the other was there. It was definitely Severus Snape. Who could forget a frown and nose like that? And she was in fact mourning a woman she knew; talked to, saw a week ago at a damn tea house in Diagon Alley! What on this great green Earth were the odds?

Eileen was a witch. Severus was a wizard. Pure-blood, of course. Everybody knew that. It was as common knowledge as Evan Rosier being a prick. So why was the deceased—also pure-blood, Lily assumed—witch surrounded by a bunch of mourning Muggles? Before Lily could contemplate the ridiculousness of all of this, she felt a pinch on her side and jumped in surprise.

"Stop staring at that boy, Lily!" Matilda whispered under her breath. "You know it's rude to stare."

"But Mum—" Lily breathed and turned in his direction again, only to see his back turned to her.

"That boy seems to be watching the funeral service rather than teenage girls," Matilda chuckled.

She groaned. "I swear to—"

"We're in a church, Lily!" Matilda hushed.

"It's not technically a church," Lily pointed out after singing another verse.

"I don't care if we're in a submarine…at least don't use that sort of language in a church. Heaven knows we haven't been attending regular—" Matilda started but was droned out by the organ music increasing in volume and then halting completely. The funeral director then began to sing in a new tune and both Evans women promptly sang along to a new hymn, a graver one with less cheer.

The Evans were never strict Christians. Her mother stopped going after she hurt her back years ago while at work, but they had attended church enough in her childhood for Lily to recognize the songs. She only remembered going to one other funeral in her life: her grandmother's. The memory was a blur, whether from her tears or disbelief at the death. It was at a quaint church with a manicured front lawn and a beautiful chapel with mahogany pews; the sunlight came in just so—very picturesque. Until the coffin was seen. The coffin with her grandmother inside, waiting to be cremated, turned to ash, and scattered wherever her will specified.

She thought of the flames that must have engulfed her grandmother…the furnace and the smoke…and she remembered the nightmares and nights waking with her heart nearly leaping out of her chest and her breath heavy and fast. Suddenly, Lily's heart clenched as she glanced at Severus' back and tried to imagine how he must feel. She glanced at her mother, replaced her in the coffin, being pulled behind the curtain…

What was prompting her to have such thoughts? Was it the dreary hymn, the coffin, the faint scent of candle wax? Candle wax to flame. Flame to coffin. Coffin to mother to curtain to ashes to God knows where.

Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath and indiscreetly brushed her arm against her mother's, sighing as she had confirmation that she was still there at her side, singing in her terrible singing voice and hoping that Jesus wouldn't pop out from behind the funeral director's podium and smite her daughter.

She knew what she had to do after the service. She had to talk to Severus Snape.

**XXX**

The funeral was almost complete. The director had said what he was paid to say: how lovely of a human she was, how her soul shall be accepted by God, and how her time spent on this Earth would always be remembered. So on, so forth, all bollocks coming from some man who didn't even know what kind of a woman Eileen had really been. Severus did, however, find slight satisfaction in the fact that a nice amount of neighbours and acquaintances had taken the time to show up, even if they didn't know anything about Eileen either.

"And now we shall complete this service, the funeral of Eileen Snape, with a final hymn," the director said in a staccato monotone that even Severus couldn't muster. "The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want."

And so it was ending. Any minute now she would be pulled behind the curtains. And then the disjointed singing began again, for a final time.

_He makes me down to lie in pastures green_

Morbid though it was, Severus couldn't help wondering what his mother looked like now. Was she cleaned up by a cadaver specialist, or just slowly rotting and within her wooden chamber?

_He leadeth me the quiet waters by._

Would he even recognize her? Of course he would. You don't forget your own mother.

_My soul He doth restore again_

And as the prayer progressed, Severus felt more rushed, more worried.

_And me to walk doth make within the paths of righteousness_

What if she wasn't dead? This could just be her taking the mickey out of him. She would just open the coffin…

_Even for His own Name's sake_

Jump out…

_Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale, yet will I fear no ill_

And run up to him and tell him she was just joking, that it was a horrible joke and that it's alright and they'd go home to drink some tea with a squeeze of lemon and a bit of honey or some bitter cup of coffee.

_For Thou art with me_

Was the prayer at this fast pace seconds earlier? They were singing faster, he was sure of it. Why did they want to her to be taken behind the curtain so fast? _Slow down! Slow down, damn it!_ Severus' throat clenched and he gulped and couldn't help staring straight at the coffin. He stopped singing. His mouth wouldn't move. It was too fast…too damn fast…

_And Thy rod_

His head was spinning, the whole damn room was rotating, and he had to close his eyes just to regain his balance. But with his eyes shut images, fuzzy images without clarity filtered through; memories of Eileen at a different time. Eileen before she told Tobias she was a witch. When they would all go to the closest cinema on a hot summer day, or when she would take him to a lake which certainly wasn't the cleanest in England, and that time when he skinned his knee while running down the road and Eileen bandaged this cut and pretended he was her patient for the rest of the day, taking requests from him like a nurse.

_And staff my comfort still_

And then there were the gloomy memories of the time Tobias hit Eileen, or when they yelled in the car all those times before she refused to go inside "that Muggle contraption" again. Then there were her letters to him, some of which he burned in the Slytherin fireplace at night…

_My table Thou hast furnishèd_

Of course, there were the grey areas…but there are _always_ grey areas.

_In presence of my foes_

He opened his eyes, and the hymn seemed to return to its normal pace, droning and steady.

_My head Thou dost with oil anoint_

Any moment now…

_And my cup overflows_

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tobias swaying and shifting slightly. His eyes were closed and his head bowed and he still smelled of cigarettes, a smell that didn't blend well with sweet fragrance of flowers just feet away from him.

_Goodness and mercy all my life_

Eileen didn't come out yet.

_And in God's house forevermore_

And the curtain began to lift.

_My dwelling place shall be_

Eileen Snape, a daughter, wife, friend, and mother…was now becoming mere ashes.

And for some reason, he hated her for it.

**XXX**

She had to find him.

She had to know where he slithered off to right after the rise and fall of the curtain.

She had to find out what the hell was going on!

"I'll be right back," Lily told her mother, who was already in conversation with a woman who was seated behind her. "I'm going to find the loo."

"Alright, dear," Matilda said, and returned to her discussion.

She found herself feeling gradually more nervous as she tried to search for him through the crowd. Why did it seem as though the amount of witnesses to the funeral doubled? The room was hot from the burning candles, the heating system to burn off the winter chill, and of course from rubbing elbows with the various people in the room; body heat which made Lily start to sweat. Strong, cheap perfume radiated off one particularly rotund woman while heavy cigars exuded from a circle of male Tykes speaking rapidly to one another. A lone toddler moaned, somebody coughed, and a shrill, merry voice said, "Good heavens! I thought you died _years_ ago!"

She saw and heard everything but a tall slumped figure with a condescending voice.

That was, until she freed herself from the pit of bodies and emerged into the small entrance hall. She spotted a flash of moving body at the corner of her eye going past the heavy double doors of the crematorium which closed dramatically in the figure's wake. She rushed to the door, pushed it open and yelled, "Wait! Wait, Snape! Snape!"

What she thought, hoped was Severus…definitely wasn't Severus.

"'Ello, girly!" chirped a man with a shiny bald head and a raggedy coat, who had turned around at the call. He was missing a few teeth as well.

Lily Evans was absolutely mortified.

"Oh, s-sorry, sir. Mistook you for s-someone else," Lily stuttered in embarrassment. If her cheeks were already red from the cold, she imagined she resembled a fire truck by now.

The man nodded his head, tipped his hat at her, and continued on his way towards the gloomy parking lot.

Lily was close to retreating back into the crowd back at the crematorium. She would have, indeed, if she hadn't looked out in front of her, across the small road, and seen a tall, gangly figure standing impatiently by a spindly tree.

Definitely the one she was looking for, this time. He even had teeth.

She strode across the dirt road, hard and moist from the weather, and approached him with a hint of apprehension, especially since he was staring straight at her as she advanced with a strange vigour and harsh determination in her steps. Suddenly she grew nervous. What would she ask first?

She opened her mouth wide; ready to yell, question, apologize for his mother, she had no idea. However, fortunately or unfortunately, she wasn't the first to speak when she was just a few feet away.

"What the _fuck_ are you doing here?" the boy in question asked. Darkening bags had begun to develop underneath his eyes and his skin looked paler than usual: he looked like hell on a pair of skinny legs. "I'd really appreciate an answer, Evans. Now."

"Oh, don't talk to me like that," Lily snapped, her queries forgotten and replaced with utter frustration. "I wouldn't mind a few questions answered myself!"

"I asked first!" Severus retorted.

"Well I thought about it first," Lily said with her index finger in the air.

"You're being difficult, as usual, Evans," Severus groaned.

"And you aren't?" Lily grunted to herself.

A sharp wind gusted by, and both gasped and shuddered. They stood in silence, distracting themselves with the scenery…or lack thereof, in Lily's humble opinion. Though the trees did look marvellously novelistic and haunting, an opportune feature of nature. Yes, novelistic. From a book set in the rural English moors of the nineteenth century, perhaps. These thoughts, however, simply made her think of her warm, comfortable bed and snuggling up with a book: definitely not this environment.

She noticed that he, on the other hand, seemed determined not to look in her direction in the slightest. In fact, he leaned against the decaying tree and steadied his gaze in the opposite direction: an open, green, sad-looking field of wet grass. First he demands an answer to his question and now he was ignoring her? What was his bloody problem?

She sighed. She was bursting to have her hundreds of questions answered, and simply standing and thinking about classic novels wasn't going to do _anything_.

"How…I mean…yeah, how…did she…?" Lily croaked quietly, though her heart was pounding like a drum beneath her bosom; hoping she wasn't insensitive in any way.

Severus sighed himself, but it was one of annoyance and irritation rather than nervousness. She waited for over a minute for a response: she didn't get one.

This wasn't working. She needed a new approach. No beating around the bush.

"I saw a man in there," Lily walked closer towards him, until she stood directly in the way of his view and staring right into his glaring eyes. "He looked like you, Snape. And he certainly didn't seem like any puffed-up Slytherin pure-blood wizard _I've_ ever seen."

Severus lightly shifted his weight from one foot to another and folded his arms across his chest. "And what of it?" he growled, his teeth nearly bare.

"What of it?" Lily raised her voice. "I'm assuming that man was your _father,_ Snape."

"Oh, very good, Evans. You get a biscuit!" Severus scoffed.

"—And if Eileen was a witch—" She advanced upon him, her voice still rising and another gust of wind blowing her hair around her, as well as his lanky shoulder-length strands.

"Yeah?"

"Then that means—"

"Enlighten me, Evans!"

Lily was now less than a foot away from him, staring at him defiantly, feeling his rushed breath on her face.

"You, Severus Snape, aren't a pure-blood at all!" she exclaimed. "You're a _half-blood!"_

He didn't say a word.

She scoffed and smiled nastily, shaking her head. "You are quite possibly the biggest hypocrite to ever walk the planet!"

His fists clenched, face impassive, and he looked away again. "And what makes you say that?" Severus asked calmly, or perhaps with suppressed rage.

"Acting like you're so much better and more worthy than the rest of us and, oh, I don't know, remember a little incident in which you called me a Mudblood?" Lily cried. "You're nothing but a liar, Snape!"

"I never once said I was pure-blood, did I?" Severus snapped quietly.

"Of course you have!" Lily yelled in quick response.

"Recall one time, Evans. _One time," _he urged, with a small smirk on his semi-chapped, wind-burned lips.

She racked her brain for events in which she must have been told, or overheard, or given some sort of information about Snape's blood. There must have been a time!

"I'm waiting, Evans," Severus said.

Lily blushed again. "B-but…you…you made people think—"

"People think what they want to think, Evans," Severus said sagely.

He had stumped her. He was _right_. She didn't remember _once_ being told that Snape was pure-blood. But he was a Slytherin! It was a given, wasn't it? Slytherin house, like Salazar Slytherin himself, was very selective as to who would be placed into their "elite" dwelling; where one was from was possibly even more important! Did Severus just crack the idea passed down for centuries, or were there more like him within the dark hollows of the Slytherin dungeons?

"And don't even bother asking me how I was placed into Slytherin," Severus warned, as though he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"I—I wasn't," Lily lied. "But…do others know? Like, your dorm mates, or—"

Severus rolled his eyes. "Don't be so thick. Of _course_ they know. The lot of them are simply _enthralled_ by family trees and tapestries and lineage and certainly know Snape is not a familiar surname within the Wizarding community. But, Evans, this is certainly not the time to discuss my heredity or anything of similar consequence so if you'd be so kind as to answer _my_ question?"

"Well—"

"What are you doing here, Evans?" Severus said with a sudden calmness that only prepared her for a hard blow.

There was no point in lying. She _did_ want things figured out as well.

"My…my mum knew your mum…Eileen," Lily said.

Severus' eyes narrowed with every syllable that spilled and sputtered out of the redhead's mouth.

"Strange, yeah?" Lily chuckled lightly. "Odd coincidence."

Severus shook his head. "Impossible. Surely she would have recognized you, or your name, or—"

"Yes, I'd imagine so as well. But who knows?" Lily huffed impatiently. A mixture of trying to be civil with Severus in a freezing wind chill was proving to be ridiculously difficult. "I had no idea it was your mum until…well, until I saw you here. I mean, there are plenty of Eileens in England."

Though Severus' semi-permanent scowl was still present across his alabaster face, his brows softened, as well as the snarl on his lips.

Lily suddenly felt horrible. Just minutes ago she was yelling at him and seemed to completely forget the fact that the boy had just witnessed the funeral his mother; his own flesh and blood. Severus Snape may have been a nasty piece of work, but Lily felt the introverted boy at least had a heart and feelings (contrary to popular—especially Marauder—belief).

"I'm sorry," Lily whispered. "I'm sorry for yelling. It must be hard…and…I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologising? You didn't kill my mother, did you?" Severus murmured.

"I was just being—"

"Well don't, damn it," Severus cut her off in a huff. "Whatever you're trying to do, just _stop_. I never want your pity, so why should this situation be any different?"

"Then what can I do or say to console you?" Lily asked, her eyes widening and looking at him desperately.

He looked away from her again but she reached out and shook his bony shoulder towards her and his head came along with it.

"Not saying a single word would be a pleasing start," Severus suggested. "Then leaving and going back to wherever you came from would be a great conclusion."

Lily looked back towards the dreary crematorium and noticed small groups of people filing out with their coats pulled tightly against their bodies.

No, she wasn't ready to leave yet.

"I didn't know you lived near Lancashire," Lily said conversationally.

"Because I don't speak in that awful accent?" Severus sniffed.

"Well, I don't believe it's horrid. It is sort of…"

"Awful—"

"—Charming."

Severus scoffed. "Well, I don't have that accent now, thank Merlin."

"What about as a child?" Lily asked promptly, glad that he was being civil.

"Slight, just slight," Severus sighed impatiently.

"What changed that?" Lily wondered.

"I followed my mother's pattern of speech," Severus admitted with hesitation. "Why are you concerned by this?"

"I'm not concerned," Lily denied. "Merely curious."

"You're _always_ curious about something, Evans. Most of which involves events and aspects of things that most sane people hardly want to recall," Severus explained. "Haven't you heard of the phrase 'Curiosity killed the cat'?"

"I haven't had many good experiences with cats…" Lily thought.

"That's _hardly_ the point!" Severus snapped.

"Oh, I know. I'm just kidding," Lily sighed. "Now that I'm paying attention, I sort of hear it when you yell and aren't talking in that tight voice of yours."

"Great," Severus replied

"You're such an arse." Lily rolled her eyes.

Mid roll, Lily had an idea. A fantastic idea, actually! Well, as fantastic as any plan involving Severus Snape could be. She was going to help improve Severus' holiday the best she could. It was the least she could do. "I hope this isn't too inappropriate and you may not feel comfortable, but…I had an idea," Lily said, biting her bottom lip and looking to the floor.

"Oh, Merlin. Well, spit it out before spring," Severus said, pulling his coat tighter to his body, squinting at her slightly as the wind burned his eyes.

"Tomorrow is New Year's Eve," Lily started quickly, glancing up at him again. "And I was wondering if you want to…I don't know…come round?"

Severus scoffed, prompting Lily to continue before he said anything malicious.

"Listen, you'll be my guest and I'm sure my family would be fine with it. Maybe in the evening, for dinner?"

Severus peered at her, his brows furrowed and his hands deep in the coat's pockets, clenching and unclenching his fists. "Why?" he asked after several seconds. She certainly wasn't anticipating _that_ response.

"Why?" Lily repeated.

"Yes. Why would you invite me over for dinner at your, surely, lovely home on New Year's Eve, Evans?" Severus asked slowly.

"You never like to make things easy, do you, Snape?" Lily noticed with a frown.

"It's a simple question, really," Severus said and kicked a nearby rock away with his boot. "Why should I waste some of my valuable time at your place when I could be anywhere else, certainly doing something more worth my while?"

She thought about his question quickly. What should she answer with? He should come for dinner because she pitied him? Because she felt it was the right thing to do for the sad boy? Because it could quite possibly end up disastrous and she'd have a story to tell that would surely amuse Marlene?

"Well, my mum's a hell of a cook," Lily offered with a shrug and sigh.

There was a pause and if she didn't know any better she could have sworn his lips twitched into a smile for a brief second; but just as quickly he bent his neck down and his shoulder-length hair covered a majority of his face and he looked more hunchbacked than usual. She knew it. He was going to say no. And then he would do that glary thing he always did and scoff and—

"Fine."

Lily found herself releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding in.

"I suppose it would be all right. But only because I haven't had a decent meal in days," Severus said tightly and glanced towards the direction of the next wave of mourners packing up into cars and leaving.

"Great," Lily said hoarsely, then cleared her throat. "I suppose it would be best if you floo'd over since we can't Apparate or anything."

She then opened her black purse and shuffled through it until she found a pen. "I haven't got any scratch paper to give you my address on. Will a hand work?"

Severus sighed and reluctantly presented a left hand to her from his warm pocket. She hesitantly grabbed his palm and felt his fingers twitch slightly from her warm touch against his cold skin. It was then that she began to take notice his hand; a couple healed cuts left faint marks around the tips of his fingers, most likely from slips with the knife; she had a few herself. His thumb had a purple stain that would go away over time from handling a particularly messy root for prolonged amounts of time and his palm showed thin, soft lines; unlike Lily's, which were more pronounced.

"Get on with it, will you?" Severus snapped impatiently, his cheeks a slight pink colour; from the chill, Lily assumed.

"Yes, right," she said, and with that she divulged her address in blue ink messily onto his hand, apologising for pressing too hard when he winced slightly and blowing lightly after she was finished to make sure the message wouldn't smudge right away. She didn't notice him blush or that he forgot to breathe. "There, all set."

Severus swiftly put his hand back into his pocket and Lily continued softly, "I'd best find my mum and get going. I'll see you tomorrow, though."

"Let's get one last thing straight, Evans," he said firmly as she turned around. "I'm foolishly trusting you to keep this meeting between those lips of yours and never leave them. This entire event has been astonishing happenstance and I don't wish to have _anything_ that you've discovered known to the general population at Hogwarts. You know how fast fact _or_ fiction goes around that place. Keeping the studying arrangement under wraps is one thing, but an actual get-together is another. _No one_ will know about this, _do I make myself clear?"_

She turned her head around. Her eyes bored straight into his, and unblinkingly she said, "Crystal."

He tore his eyes away from hers for a few seconds until she cleared her throat once more. "Oh, and Snape," Lily said as she was a few feet away from him. His body stiffened. "I really am…_very_ sorry for what happened to your mum. My mum told me on the train that Eileen was truly a unique individual, way back in the day. And she seemed like a very nice woman in my eyes, too. I'm really sad that she passed."

She finished speaking, turned her back to him, and began to walk towards the old crematorium as the wind gently lifted and tangled her hair; leaving the motherless boy by the sad-looking tree; alone again.

**XXX**

He pulled his frozen hand out of his warm pocket and took a decent look at the address given to him in the same girly handwriting as the letter he had received from her just a week ago.

_28 Victoria Lane_

_Hampstead, London_

So she was a Londoner; a city girl. He clenched his hand once more, staring at his closed fist in horror.

_What the hell did I just get myself into?_

A/N 2: I'm sorry this chapter was so short compared to my others but Chapter 18 will hopefully make up for it (overly perhaps because it's probably going to be ridiculously long). Please review if you'd like (fic authors love them).


	18. 1977

**A/N:** Hello all and Happy New Year (and happy holidays…even though the holiday season is over)! I wanted this chapter in and uploaded before 2007 but, hey, kicking off the new year with a chapter doesn't hurt either. Now, this chapter, though it didn't take as long as the last chapter to write, is a whopping 12,546 words! Winter break does wonders! So yeah, this is my longest and possibly my favorite chapter yet! I told you guys I'd make up for how short chapter 17 was! So yes, read read read!

By the way, what the hell is up with the notification problems with the Marauders scenes are sort of similar to a chapter of Shoebox Project. I truly owe that fic so much for inspiration on the Marauders.

* * *

**_X 1977 _**

He never was very fond of his fireplace.

Hardly any comforting fires took place there. No chestnuts roasting. And _definitely _no flooing.

That was, until December thirty-first, 1976, when Severus found himself staring at it blankly. There was a small jar on the mantel of the fireplace which, at a casual glance, would have been taken for a small jar of cheap potpourri, lacking the faintest whiff of aroma. Little did Tobias know, however, that underneath the potpourri holder lay the very tiny jar of Floo Powder Eileen had told him about years ago, "for emergencies only". He almost forgot about it; was almost tempted to not show up at the Evans house that evening. He even planned what to say if she approached him about it whilst at Hogwarts: the address washed off.

But he remembered the Floo Powder and the blasted address did not wash off after twenty-four hours. It was slightly faded, if anything, but essentially the girly letters still showed up clearly on his pale palm. Tobias noticed the words last night, grunting, "Whas that?" as they ate lukewarm soup at the dinner table.

"Nothing," Severus replied, and it wasn't mentioned again.

His father was out. Probably drinking the night away with his mates at a seedy pub God knew where, and would probably be out until God knew when. Severus wrote a quick note to him, however, with five short words: "Out. Be back later. Severus."

That would certainly be enough, but he barely understood why he wrote the note in the first place. Tobias seemed to hardly care where his own son was.

So there he was—staring at the fireplace, Floo Powder in one hand, wand in his trouser pocket, and his father's ugly black Muggle jacket around his body. Bits of the sand-like particles were trickling from the crevices between his fingers as he watched the fire, which was making him rather hot in his warm clothing.

_Oh buggering hell,_ was his last thought before he threw the Floo Powder into the flames and admired the fluorescent green nature they now possessed; he felt the magic radiating towards him as the green lit up his dark body. He secretly savoured it as he stepped into the fireplace and looked around the room, making sure the windows were drawn and he couldn't be seen.

He sighed and looked at his palm. The ink was bolder and darker than ever, tempting him to open his mouth and shout the words etched into his skin. And he did.

"Twenty-eight Victoria Lane!" Severus yelled, and felt a dizzying feeling throughout his body. He hadn't floo'd in years, and was certainly not used to the sensation. Thus making him, within seconds, fall face-first out of a foreign fireplace and into a very soft carpet. His nose, as well as the rest of his body, was suddenly very sore.

There was a rustle of feet and then a blood-curdling scream.

_Is this the wrong house? Oh God, this better not be the wrong house. If Evans was pulling a fast one on me, then_—

"BURGLAR! BURGLAR!" the voice screamed.

_Burglar? I'm no burglar!_

He then decided it would be best if he weren't smelling the carpet.

Pushing himself up swiftly, he was soon face to face with a woman with blonde hair and glassy blue eyes. She had a rather pointed nose and a long face, her bangs hiding her forehead. His eyes, however, went from her forehead, to the very large lamp in her left hand.

"I'M CALLING THE POLICE! DON'T THINK I WON'T DO IT!" the woman yelled. "I'LL GET THE PHONE!"

_Bugger, maybe I **am** in the wrong house!_

"No!" Severus hissed. "I'm no burglar!"

"I'M NOT AN IDIOT! "

"You're giving yourself a rather hard leg to stand on!" Severus retorted. "Just put the lamp down, and—"

"I TAKE SELF-DEFENSE CLASSES EVERY WEEKEND. I KNOW KARATE! AND…AND KUNG FU! OH, OH JUST YOU WAIT! I CAN—"

"What the hell is all this racket?" said another voice. But this voice was much more recognizable, and seconds later Lily Evans appeared at the entrance to the room.

"Oh! Snape, you made it!"

He had never been so happy to hear or see her in his entire life.

"YOU KNOW THE BURGLAR?" the blonde questioned.

"This is no burglar," Lily sighed. "This is my…friend, Severus Snape. From school."

_Friend. Friend? _he repeated in his head as his eyes darted from one girl to another.

"And…Severus, this is Petunia, my sister," Lily said, with much less enthusiasm.

He remembered their time at the edge of the lake on that warm September day, and how Lily talked about her sister so hesitantly.

"Good evening," Severus muttered, stretching out his hand.

"How did he get in?" Petunia asked, glancing at his hand as though it were filthy.

"Floo," Lily told her sister.

"This is the second time in just a week one of your mates has dropped by through the ruddy fireplace!" Petunia shrieked. "What is he doing here? Do Mum and Dad know about him coming?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact they do!" Lily said. "And he is staying for dinner and the party."

"Party?" Severus turned sharply towards the auburn-haired girl. "I was unaware of _anything _about a—"

"—If you haven't noticed, Pet, I don't need your approval to invite a friend over. Come on, Snape. You can come to my room for a bit."

_No I will **not** go to your room! _Severus told himself, but Lily looked at him pointedly, her eyes opening wide and her neck stretching towards the direction of the stairs in desperation to convince the boy to get the hell out of that room that held Petunia. So he followed her up a staircase adjacent to a wall adorned with a few framed family pictures of the Evanses (from years ago, he assumed, due to the fact that they featured a little red-haired girl with a couple of front teeth missing).

"It's the second door to the right, up there," Lily said in front of him.

They were now in a small, dimly-lit upstairs hallway with hardwood floors and papered walls.

He suddenly heard Lily clear her throat from her bedroom door, which was now open with light issuing from within. "Come on, I don't bite," she smirked.

At that, Severus hesitantly approached the room and when he peeked inside, he was rather surprised. She had an interesting room; inviting and warm, yet individual and certainly expressing Lily. The walls were covered with posters and news clippings of various bands—the Beatles being the group that got the most wall-space. There was a cheap-looking green lava lamp on top of a blue-tinted wooden desk covered in paper, parchment, Muggle ink pens, and books. But the most books were located on a large, brown, wooden bookcase chock-full of paperback, hardcover, and leather-bound books. He felt himself approaching the shelf of his own accord, and nearly scoffed when he discovered that only a couple charms books were visible on the shelf. Most were Muggle books: children's books, biographies and autobiographies, poetry, non-fiction and historical fiction, photography and art tomes, and tons of fiction novels.

"Books," he muttered to himself, but she heard; she _always_ heard.

"Yeah, I certainly consider it a hobby." Lily approached the shelf as well and smiled. "Some of my favourites are scattered around the room. The bindings have come off some of them, actually, from such heavy reading! I'm not very careful with them, to be honest. I reckon Madame Pince would have a right fit if she saw the condition of many of them."

The extreme surrealism of his entire predicament and surroundings suddenly barrelled into him like a speeding freight train. He was in Lily Evans' bedroom, looking at Lily Evans' books, talking about Lily Evans' book care (or lack thereof); and mere inches away from him stood Lily Evans herself, without a uniform or dress gown or big, clunky shoes. Instead, she was wearing purple corduroy trousers and a simple, long-sleeved, dark blue shirt. She also wore a pair of bright green socks with a small hole around the left and right toes. Her hair had its usual subtle wave. He was taken aback to suddenly realise she was wearing a pair of grey-rimmed glasses.

"They're just for when my eyes feel strained from reading," Lily said, and took them off, causing Severus to hope he wasn't staring. She lay the glasses on the nearby desk and continued to look at the books with a smile. "Do you read a lot? I mean…I _know_ you read a lot, but I mean books that aren't related to magic?"

"I have," Severus said.

"Oh, which books?" Lily said.

"Can't remember," Severus replied.

"Hm. Do you read Muggle books often?" Lily pressed.

"No," he said.

"I could recommend some to you, if you'd—"

"I'm fine without, Evans."

Lily bit her lower lip and glanced away. "Alright, forget it, then."

He looked away from the bookcase, quickly acknowledging a wardrobe, a bed against the far left wall with very feminine pink and white bedding, and a large window looking out towards the suburban street (which, he discovered, was alive with light in every house, kids running around in winter clothing, and loud neighbours who had probably already opened a bottle of champagne or scotch whiskey).

"Alive out there, isn't it?" Lily said. "But I'd rather listen to some music than Mr. and Mrs. Next Door laughing like a bunch of loons. Do you mind?"

"It's your room," he grunted.

Lily shrugged and walked over to the few scattered albums that littered the floor. He was surprised they weren't stepped on or broken.

"I've been listening to holiday albums for a couple weeks now. I think it's time for a little change," Lily said thoughtfully as she crouched on the floor and picked up an album. "I know you aren't fond of them, but…"

Lily turned around; she had an album with 'The Beatles' written on it. "It's your room. You can play whatever the hell you want."

Lily smiled and walked over to her record player and gently put the old album inside and sat on the floor.

"You can sit down, you know," Lily said over her shoulder while pulling down the bottom of her shirt over her visible lower back. His legs _were_ getting a bit tired, and he felt uncomfortable standing over her, so he sat down right where he was: on the other side of the room completely.

The redhead sighed and approached him by scooting on her knees.

"So how are you since yesterday?" Lily asked quietly after several silent moments.

"No better, no worse," he said stiffly.

"Um…Mum is anxious to meet you. She said she only got a glimpse of you at the funeral," Lily said. He didn't reply.

"So, are you hungry? Dinner should be ready soon…"

And then he remembered: the party. "What is this about a party, Evans?"

"Damn, hoped you'd forget about that." Lily clicked her tongue and chuckled. Severus was not amused. "Every year my parents have a get-together with some of their friends, watch the activity at the Square and Kenneth McKellar on the telly, and get absolutely smashed. It's rather boring without somebody my own age around, actually. When I was younger they used to bring their kids along, but now they all go to pubs around town while I'm stuck here listening to Mr. and Mrs. Next Door laughing for eight hours straight."

"So you invited me, not just for an hour at the dinner table, but for an obnoxious party too so that you wouldn't have to listen to your drunk next door neighbours all night but instead have me to entertain you?" Severus elaborated.

"Yeah, pretty much," Lily shrugged.

He should have left right then and there, but instead his mouth tugged into a small smirk. "You're pretty damn conniving."

Lily gave him a smirk of her own. "Ever wonder why Slughorn is fond of me?"

"I thought he was just fond of redheads," Severus said.

"I was joking, actually," Lily groaned. "Slughorn just likes me because I'm good at Potions and that 'cheek' I seem to have, rather than my skills at manipulation…which I didn't really think I had to begin with. Oh, but thanks for informing me that they in fact _do_ exist."

Severus smiled slightly and Lily started to chuckle until she suddenly stopped, turned to Severus, and sniffed him.

"What the hell are you doing?" he unintentionally squeaked as the redhead advanced her nose upon the old jacket. "Is this _normal_ in this household?"

Lily didn't respond. She continued to frown and sniff him. To make matters worse, seconds later Petunia came walking past the room in the hallway—she froze, made a face, and continued to walk quickly in her original direction.

"I'm serious, what on Earth—" he pushed her away from him by the shoulder "—is the matter with you?"

"Have you been smoking?" Lily asked roughly.

"Why?" Severus scowled.

"You smell like my uncle and he smoked two packs of fags a day," Lily frowned.

"I'm going to assume that is hardly a compliment," Severus said. "Is he invited to this little party, too? Do you plan on sniffing _him_ like a ruddy animal?"

"He died last year, actually, so I doubt he'll be able to attend," Lily snapped coolly.

"A lot of people smoke, Evans," Severus said.

"That may be true," Lily said. "But they're all saying that fags are horrid for you."

"It's not _me_ who smells like a bucket of fags, Evans," Severus said as he shrugged off his coat. "It's my father's damned jacket that does!"

Lily blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry…shouldn't have jumped to—"

"—Lily, you forgot to get the delicates from the dryer!"

Lily, if possible, blushed even harder and had a look of utter horror as a woman Severus assumed was Mrs. Evans came barrelling into the room with her arms full of fresh-scented laundry and dumped it on her bed. He then understood why she was blushing like a tomato: they were all knickers and other unmentionables.

"Mum!" Lily jumped up and rushed towards her mother. "Get out, get out, get out!"

"What is—" she said until she turned around from Mount Knickers and towards a very uncomfortable Severus Snape. Flattening out her dress and smoothing her hair, she put her hand over her mouth. "Good Lord, you must be Eileen's boy."

Severus nodded and offered her his hand, but was surprised when he instead received a large hug. Her hair tickled his nose and she smelled like seasoned meat and stew but also had that indescribable, sweet maternal smell he couldn't put his finger on. She pulled away from him and smiled gently at him and he realized just how much she resembled her daughter—but older, with lurking wrinkles and some age spots. She had a much darker shade of red to her hair—in the wrong lighting it looked more like a dark brown—and her eyes were the same almond shape as her daughter's but were dark brown in colour.

"I'm sure you don't remember me. My name is Matilda Evans and I'm so glad you could make it," she said warmly, her grin deep and her dimples, if possible, deeper. "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year to you too, Mrs—"

"Call me Matilda, dear," Matilda simpered. She looked at both teenagers. "Dinner will be ready soon, and Lily, I want those clothes folded and put in your wardrobe. Not scattered around the floor!"

With that, Matilda gave Severus one last smile and walked out. Lily was still blushing and looked absolutely livid.

"That was…interesting," Severus said with his hands in his pockets, looking as far away from the pile of knickers as possible. A particularly large poster caught his eye as he heard Lily mutter next to him.

"Good Lord! That woman!" Lily groaned in her palm and covered the clothing with a large blanket. "I'm sorry, I'm so bloody sorry."

Severus didn't know what to say, but almost snickered by the redhead's utter embarrassment and her positively rouge cheeks. "Lord, Evans. You're blushing like a virgin at a brothel."

"I think I'd rather be at a brothel than here right now," Lily sighed.

Both were silent once more as the record kept spinning and the songs kept playing and Severus sat there, watching her move her lips to the words.

He was never happier to hear somebody say, "Dinner is ready" in his life. This was all much too strange.

**XXX**

"Pass the carrots, please," Petunia said hastily.

"Severus, would you mind, dear?" Matilda asked the boy.

Lily watched as Severus hesitantly picked up the bowl and extended his long arms across the table to Petunia who, on receiving the vegetables and dishing them out, crinkled her nose and inspected the orange nourishment.

"So, how's school treating you, Severus?" Edward asked Severus curiously. Earlier, Mister Evans met and shook hands with Severus rather familiarly. Perhaps he was just excited to have a male in the household, or perhaps he was genuinely interested in the pallid young man.

"Well," Severus replied quietly.

"Couldn't hear you, son. Don't be afraid to speak up," Edward encouraged.

"It is going well, Mister Evans," Severus said again, albeit a little louder. Although, to Lily's amusement, Severus looked rather uncomfortable speaking to her father.

"Lily tells me you're half Muggle," Edward said as he took a hearty bite of meat and began to chew enthusiastically,

"Dad!" Lily groaned.

"What?" Edward frowned

"Yes, I am," Severus said, not rudely or shy; instead it had a touch of firmness.

"Do you like football?" Edward asked.

"I…did. But I haven't exactly been properly caught up," Severus replied sheepishly.

"Oh yeah, since when? Got everything you need to know right here," Edward said with a chuckle as he pointed to his head, which was lightly covered in sparse grey hair. Severus noticed Lily roll her eyes.

"I reckon…1969," Severus said.

"What about 1969?" Edward frowned.

"Well, sir, you asked me when was the last time I was properly caught up—"

"Blimey! You'll _really _need to catch up!"

"Dad, that's a bit difficult, don't you think?" Lily said. "You know, since we're away doing magic for most of the year."

"Well, then, do you play that game you lot play on the sticks? Quidditch, is it?"

"No, I don't play, sir," Severus replied.

"…What _do_ you do, son?" Edward asked. He seemed to think that if you were a young man not interested in anything athletic, you must do absolutely nothing. Living in a house full of women severely revved up his urge for testosterone.

"I…I create spells?" Severus said uncertainly.

This was certainly the first time Lily's heard about _that_ and she immediately stopped mid bite to peer at her companion. She made a mental note to talk to him about that hobby at a later time.

"Oh really?" Edward asked and wiped his mouth swiftly, his eyes brightening with fascination. Her father, though cynical, was always interested in Wizarding hobbies. "What kinds?"

"Just…spells," Severus said, staring at his plate as he ate like a man stranded…or an average teenage boy.

"I understand that, son. But I'm interested in what—"

"Mostly defensive…I've also tried to research some well-known ones and see if they can be improved…and such," Severus explained.

Lily was sure she must have looked like a codfish of some sort from her gaping mouth. She had no idea this was one of his hobbies! Was this the only time he's mentioned this to anyone? She had certainly heard about his interest in the Dark Arts, and his skill and expertise in Defence class was pretty much common knowledge; but never had she heard anything about Severus _creating_ and _improving _spells.

"Like what? Don't be shy, now," Matilda coaxed gently as she took a small bite of her vegetables.

"Erm, well…there is this once spell that I find to be pretty fascinating," Severus told his plate, glancing up every few seconds at the Evanses. "I'm not exactly sure of many ways to improve it but…there is this spell that helps repel these…creatures."

"Which creatures?" Lily finally piped up. Severus made direct eye contact with her, almost as if he had forgotten she was there.

"Dementors," Severus said.

_"Dementors?" _

Everyone at the table turned their heads towards Petunia, who hadn't said much throughout dinner thus far. She didn't look particularly fascinated…but she certainly looked curious.

"Don't they have something to do with Azkaban?" Lily asked. She wasn't very well informed about the creatures. She certainly had heard of them, but other than that…

_"Azkaban?"_ Petunia yet again piped up. Her blonde brows furrowed and the piece of potato hung haphazardly from her fork. "Dementors? Azkaban? What on Earth?"

"What are these things?" Matilda asked excitedly.

"Yeah, what exactly are Dementors?" Lily asked Severus. Their eyes met again as he looked up at her.

"Dementors," Severus began, his voice more steady as he continued to look in her general direction. Apparently he enjoyed having a listening audience. "Are large creatures who guard Azkaban, which, as I hope you know, is the wizard prison."

"You lot have a prison?" Edward asked.

"Why wouldn't there be a prison in the Wizarding world?" Lily said.

"With criminals?" Matilda squeaked.

"No, with balloon animals," Lily chuckled. "Don't worry about it, Mum."

"If they're guards, why would you want to, as you said, 'repel' them? Aren't they good?" Matilda asked.

Turning towards Severus again, she nodded her head, prompting him to continue.

"Well," Severus smirked darkly, pushing a strand of his stringy black hair behind his ear, "that all depends on your definition of 'good' doesn't it?"

The Evanses were still all ears, excited for the boy to continue…sans Petunia, who looked like she wanted nothing more than Severus to stop and leave the dinner table; perhaps even leave the country!

"Dementors are the main reason why Azkaban is so feared in the Wizarding world. They're large creatures, shrouded in heavy, black robes. They're…not human but they have the basic shape of one. However, the only human-esque feature of the Dementors wizards may catch a glimpse of are their hands…which resemble horrible, scabbed, dying flesh," Severus said breezily, though his voice seemed to drop and deepen for dramatics.

Matilda and Edward winced, Petunia looked sick, and Lily…Lily was surprisingly fascinated by the horrible creatures.

"However, only wizards can see them."

Mr. and Missus. Evans and Petunia all seemed to deflate with relief.

"But that almost makes it worse for Muggles. Because although they can't see them, they can certainly feel them."

They became tense once more.

"What else?" Lily whispered.

"They're truly filthy creatures. Very cold air surrounds them. Freezing, they say. Dementors thrive on darkness, despair, and especially death. The Dementors' true skill is their ability to literally drain one's happiness. Every pleasing memory, experience, sensation…gone! Kaput! Sucked out of you like a vacuum cleaner. You're only left with your worst memories, many of which you've probably forgotten ages ago…they just resurface."

Lily noticed Petunia stare at a nearby closet, which Lily knew held the Evanses' own vacuum cleaner.

"The worst part about them…however…is when they kiss you."

"K-k-kiss you?" Petunia shivered. Lily felt rather nervous herself, yet eager for him to continue. "These things just…kiss you? Like on the lips?"

"Yes."

"But kisses aren't evil," Petunia insisted, though her fear was still evident in her bright blue eyes.

"Don't be silly," Severus snapped. "It's not a loving kiss on the lips. They lift their hoods and clamp their rotting jaws on the victim's mouth and their kiss sucks out your very soul."

"Then what happens?" Edward asked in hushed tones, Matilda not so subtly gripping her husband's shirtsleeve.

"You're left soulless," Severus said quietly. "A soulless, evil creature just like the Dementor itself. The Dementor's kiss is a fate worse than death. The worst way to die. In Azkaban, the criminals have to endure the presence of the Dementors every day. They don't have their souls sucked out unless…well, under certain circumstances."

"That's horrible," Lily said. "But…but they're on the Ministry's side, right? The Ministry controls them."

"Sure," Severus lifted a brow and smirked again. "But…it's rather funny how the Ministry tricks themselves into believing that they can control one of the deadliest beings on Earth. The Dementors can't communicate by speech and can hardly be chained down or something. The notion that they can be controlled is ridiculous."

"Then how are they stopped? They must be repelled someway," Lily said passionately, her food long forgotten. "There must be a charm or—"

"Yes, a charm. The Patronus Charm," Severus said.

Lily gasped. "I've heard of that one! Doesn't it cause a…sort of silvery shape of an animal to appear?"

"Yes," Severus said. "The charm's main purpose is to repel Dementors. But it only works if you think of something happy."

"Hard to do when around one of those...Demonortors, though," Edward said. Severus cringed at the misspoken word.

"Exactly, which makes it extremely difficult. Anyway, I've been researching some other possibilities or alternatives to the Patronus—"

"Is this _really_ something that should be discussed at the dinner table, Mother?" Petunia said slowly, staring pointedly at Matilda while fidgeting with her napkin, her cheeks red with frustration.

"What's wrong with our discussion?" Lily asked brazenly.

"How about you not get involved when I'm trying to talk to Mum?" Petunia retorted.

"How about not being so rude?" Lily replied with a snarl.

"Rude? _Rude? _You think that _I'm _being _rude_?" Petunia blinked rapidly while resting her fingertips on her chest. "I think it's _rude_ talking about this…_disgusting,_ unnatural _filth_ at the dinner table!"

"Filth?" Severus said. Lily sighed and desperately hoped he wouldn't lose it, although she enjoyed having the backup of someone other than her parents who actually understood her world.

"Yes, filth," Petunia said matter-of-factly and quickly tuned away from Severus. "Why can't we all talk about something _normal?_ Like…rugby? Or Mrs. Parker's new roses in the front yard. Oh, or how those blokes starting cursing up a storm on _Bill Grundy_ earlier this month. Pistols or whatever. It was horrible! All over _The Mirror_."

"Some may consider those utterly _enthralling_ topics of discussion to be, as you put it, _filth,"_ Severus said sagely.

"Well, those 'some' are all a bunch of strange, uncivilized—"

"Petunia!" Lily shouted, and her mother opened her mouth to interrupt but was cut off by Severus.

_"Uncivilized?"_ Severus said incredulously.

"Yes, you heard right," Petunia said with her pointed nose high in the air. "Uncivilized people like you and my good-for-nothing baby sister—"

"Petunia Evans!" Matilda snapped. "That is no way to treat a guest in our home _or_ your sister. You're being uncivilized this very moment!"

"Apologise _now,_ Petunia," Edward said firmly.

"I'm not doing anything for the likes of those two! It's bad enough having _one_ of them in the house! Now she brings in this boy who makes spells and lets Lily _smell_ him—"

"Smell?" Edward asked. "Smelling?"

"I saw it myself. Lily was all over this…Septimus—"

"It's Severus!" Lily and Severus said simultaneously.

"—Sniffing at him. _This_ is your crowning achievement, Mum and Dad? _This?_ Oh please! And you know what? I've just about had enough of this. Sitting with one freak is bad enough! But _two?"_

"PETUNIA!" Matilda and Edward hollered. Both adults, though surely confused about the sniffing, were absolutely livid. Matilda not only looked angry, she looked embarrassed too.

"Thanks for the dinner, but I think I'll drop by Vernon's earlier than expected," Petunia said in a trembling voice, picking up her purse from the back of her chair, and began to walk to the coat-rack by the door. Suddenly, Petunia squawked and fell to the floor in a heap.

"Pet!" Matilda cried, and her parents rushed over to her.

"My heel!" Petunia yelled and lifted her leg. "My heel broke!"

And she was right: the left heel of Petunia's purple high-heeled pumps was hanging loosely by a single strand of the surrounding material. "Vernon got these shoes for me just a week ago!"

"It must be karma!" Lily shouted from the dinner table.

Petunia's eyes snapped up towards her sister. "You! _You_ did this!"

"Don't be silly, Petunia. I'll get you a pair of mine to wear out," Matilda snapped.

"No! It was Lily using magic on me!" Petunia growled as she pointed at her sister.

"If I _did_ use magic on you I'd be kicked out of Hogwarts!" Lily retorted.

"That didn't stop you that last time you used it!" Petunia cried.

"I just got a warning letter!" Lily said.

"What about him?" Petunia turned her pale blue eyes towards Severus.

"He didn't do anything either!" Lily snapped. Matilda was back seconds later to give Petunia a pair of rather hideous brown penny loafers.

Petunia didn't even bother responding to Lily as she gathered herself once more. "Goodnight," she said curtly to her parents, and opened the door.

"Pet, please!" Matilda said.

"Let her go on," Edward whispered and then turned his attentions to his eldest daughter. "Tell Vernon we said hello!"

"You're going to just let her go off?" Matilda seethed as Petunia walked out the door. But Lily didn't hear what her father said in response because she quickly rose from her seat and barrelled towards the door after Petunia.

It was cold. Very cold. So cold that the second Lily walked out of that door she regretted not wearing shoes as her socked feet and unclothed toes touched the wet step and pavement. Petunia was already opening her car door by the time Lily reached her. She grabbed her elder sister's arm, startling her.

"What is your problem?" Lily cried. "Why do you have to act like that all the time?"

"Get away from me, Lily," Petunia recoiled from her sister's grasp as though she was covered in sludge. "I don't want to have anything to do with anything _abnormal."_

"So that includes me, yeah?" Lily asked quietly with a shiver. "You don't want anything to do with me?"

"No, I don't," Petunia cried. "God, just imagine if _Vernon_ found out about your little problem. I could just _imagine_ the horror on his face. Anyone who isn't cracked in the head would be bloody terrified of you! How does that feel, huh, Lily? Maybe if you never got that ruddy letter—"

And Petunia went on and on and on hissing criticism her from everything from her first-year fascination with frog spawn to the incident when she turned a spare teacup into a rat over her winter hols a couple of years ago (causing her to receive a warning letter) and how much of "a Goddamn freak" Lily was. And she wouldn't stop. Lily just stood there in shock, never treated to this extent of _hate_ from her older sister. She felt weak when she felt her eyes sting and warmth flow down her cheeks. But how could she take this abuse without reacting?

"Petunia! I can't help what I am!" Lily shouted, a sob threatening to choke through her. "I can't fucking help that I'm a witch, alright?"

"SHUT UP!" Petunia snarled, looking around her worried that somebody would overhear their conversation. As though anyone could hear their conversation with their own little parties and with the television volume up on high, or with 'Mr. and Mrs. Next Door' still playing their obnoxious music and laughing every now and then. Petunia resembled a madwoman with her lightly curled blonde hair standing on end and her eyes wide and searching the street.

"You're ashamed of me," Lily concluded. "You're either ashamed or jealous."

"Jealous?" Petunia shrieked. "Like I'd be jealous of something like you. You may get perfect marks, prefect positions, and be oh so damn popular at that freak institute of yours but I'll _never_ be jealous of you. _Never_. You are not Lily Evans, the perfect little sister of Petunia Evans. You're Lily Evans the fucking blemish inflicted upon our family."

"That's not true."

"Mum and Dad haven't realised it yet, but they will. By God, they will, and the day that happens will quite possibly be the most fulfilling day of my life!"

"Shut up!"

"Face it, Lily! You're just a freak and will always _be_ a freak."

Lily was crying freely now, sobbing in front of her sister like she would when she was so much younger, crying because Petunia got a bigger slice of a sandwich or because Petunia switched the television station. She felt her mouth quiver and heard the small whines at the back of her throat.

Petunia was shivering too; not from the cold, but out of fury. She wasn't through yet. Petunia then pointed at her sister with her long, manicured, bony finger and began to whisper.

"You…_you_ are a _nobody_ as far as I'm concerned. Do you hear me, Lily? A _nobody_. You are _nothing_ to me."

Lily was numb. Whether it was from the cold or the verbal slam courtesy of her sister, Lily was numb. She hardly noticed Petunia's keys clinging, the slam of car door or the start her engine. She gasped as the car's rear lights hit her face with a bright red glow. Petunia's car sped down Victoria Lane and with it the light diminished, leaving Lily feeling worse than she had in an awfully long time.

"Evans?"

Senses kicking in, Lily spun around to see Severus standing in her open doorway. "Your parents said that the party is going to start in a little less than an hour," he muttered. "And your mother said that you should get inside before you catch cold."

Embarrassed, Lily quickly rubbed her eyes and nodded. "Give me a second," she said hoarsely. She hated crying in front of people, especially since it was the second time she has done such a thing in front of Severus. What luck! What horrible luck!

Lily was turned away from him once more and heard the door close. She was surprised however when she heard footsteps from behind her.

Severus stood with his hands in his pockets and his head down, hair covering his face, and sighed, "Sorry to say, but your sister is a total…utter…_bitch."_

Lily let out a light chuckle. "Yeah, yeah she is."

She turned towards him again. "I'm so sorry that she said all those things to you. But I shan't pretend I was surprised by her behaviour. She's just…horrible."

She felt her bottom lip tremble again and her eyes shutting, releasing another string of tears.

"I'm not entirely sure she is worth the tears, Evans," Severus said.

"She shouldn't be," Lily croaked. "She really shouldn't be."

And then she said something that she was completely surprised by.

"By the way…you can call me Lily," she said softly, and sniffled.

Silence.

"Why?" Severus said.

"Don't be a git," Lily sighed.

Severus kicked a nearby rock and scratched his chin.

"Lily."

Lily simpered wetly. "See! It's not too bad is it…Severus?"

"Har har har," Severus said. "You had your laugh, now I'm going to be heading off—"

"What?" Lily frowned.

"I thought I made it clear that I'm not staying for some damn party!" Severus sighed.

"Please! Just…just for a couple hours?" Lily begged softly.

"Why me?" Severus asked. "Why not ask your zillions of other friends and admirers? I'm sure you'd have a lot more fun getting smashed with them tonight."

"You've had a hard couple of weeks and I thought that you'd appreciate a bit of company!" Lily retorted, feeling herself becoming more and more tense the longer she talked to the boy. "I invite you to dinner so you can have a good meal—"

"—Must you say that like I'm some sort of fucking stray?—"

"—And then I invite you to remain here for a stupid little get-together and a glass of bloody champagne and you act like an idiot!"

"Oh, so I'm a idiot now?" Severus asked and nearly laughed. "You're doing one hell of a job convincing me to stay!"

Lily suddenly sat down on the steps leading to her home and lay her head on her joined knees and sighed. "It's…it's been a long night. If you really want to go, then fine. The Floo Powder is in a little potpourri pot behind the picture of Petunia in her tie-dye shirt phase. Sure as hell can't miss a picture like _that."_

She expected him to swiftly retreat back into the house and forget this entire "adventure" ever happened. They'd both go back to their Christmas hols and let things go back to normal.

But apparently, that New Year's Eve of 1976 was not going to work out as expected.

"Only one glass."

Lily smiled.

**XXX**

James Potter was high.

Very high, actually.

High enough to collapse into a heavy laughing fit when Peter decided to use his lampshade as a hat.

Oddly enough, Peter wearing a lampshade wasn't an uncommon occurrence.

For the Marauders, smoking Knotgrass was not as common of an action as drinking into the wee hours of the morning. But it was New Year's Eve…and they were bored.

"I wonder how the Muggles can just settle for their utter shite," Sirius said as he rummaged around the room. "I've tried it you know. Cannabis. Don't know what all the damn fuss's about. SHITE."

"It _smells_ like utter shite in here," Remus said with a deep cough. "Knotgrass and the smell of boy is not a pleasant combination."

"Ha ha, smell of boy?" Sirius crinkled his nose.

"I know about the smell of boy," Peter defended Remus. "Sort like a mixture of sweat and piss and humpback whale."

The room was silent.

"Ha ha, you know what, Wormtail? Good for you for acknowledging your recent ancestors: the great humpback whales of English shore," Sirius said.

"Oi!" Peter started but was soon interrupted by James shushing him.

"Now, now, boys. No need to be hostile," the bespectacled boy smiled. "It's a holiday!"

"Cheers," Sirius nodded, and blew a long, thick line of smoke into James' face.

"Where on Earth did you get all of this Knotgrass?" Remus asked.

"You know that big, shifty bloke, Mundugnus Fletcher?" Sirius asked.

"With the tie?"

"Yeah."

"And the hat?"

"Sure."

"And the yellow jacket."

"It's brown, actually. Brown. You know what else is brown?"

"Merlin, we don't need to be reminded, Sirius," Remus groaned, expecting the worst.

"Trees. And my mum's favourite robes," Sirius sighed. "Cunt."

"Your mum?" Peter said.

"Who else?" Sirius growled. "Good Lord, Peter. Leave it to _you_ to piss me off on Knotgrass."

"Sorry," Peter said, excitedly taking another drag.

"Well…" Sirius pointed at Peter with the steadily shrinking, smoking stub, "fuck you."

"This'll cheer you up, mate," James grinned. "Look at what I got!" James said, suddenly fumbling with a rather large instant camera. "Those Muggle cameras. The ones that, like, flash and the picture shoots out. I saw these girls usin' it at the train station a while back."

"Mum has one of those at home,'" Peter informed with wide-eyed wonderment as he stubbed out the joint and edged closer to the camera.

"How'd you get that?" Remus asked.

"Nicked it. From a second-year, I reckon," James shrugged.

"What _don't _you steal, anymore? Have to get your hands on everything," Remus said.

"Aha ha, damn straight he does!" Sirius chimed in. "Especially possessive at night. God, it's like if he doesn't wank, Jimmy'll fall right off!"

"Haha, as if you don't wank too," James muttered with the joint hanging loosely from his lips. "But, she had red hair…the second-year. Sort of like Li—"

"DON'T," Sirius interrupted with a cough. "Don't bring up the swot for one bloody night, _please_. The only thing you should be thinking about is Knotgrass…and this camera…and Knotgrass. Ha ha ha."

"I can talk about whatever I want," James defended. "Unless you steal my mouth. Which would be really…bad."

"Might do the world some good, actually," Sirius chuckled. Peter did too, being ever so loyal.

James blew his smoke into Sirius' face, but in a way which severely lacked Sirius' grace. How could such a blot do everything so beautifully? So damn perfect, he was. James felt ashamed, really. He wanted a second try.

"So, you know how to use it, Pete?" Sirius asked incredulously, nearly looking at Peter as though he was a new person. The plump blond boy was suddenly redeemed, it seemed.

"Sure I do," Peter said, grabbed the camera, and after furrowing his brows in concentration, clicked a large black button and caused a mighty flash, startling the three other boys.

"MERLIN, I'M MELTING!" Sirius winced, took another drag, and continued. "I'M FUCKING MELTING."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Peter yelped.

"No worries. But you're buying me a new face," Sirius said.

Peter gulped.

"Although," Sirius started, as he reached for the forgotten photo which lay forlornly on James' patterned, carpeted rug ('the pansy rug', Sirius called it) and looked at it fondly. "No face can replace mine. I look good. Stubby Boardman sort of good. No, _better_ than Stubby!"

Peter gasped.

"Yeah," Sirius nodded with a small grin gracing his lips. "You heard right. I reckon I look better in leather than he does."

"I doubt it," Remus said.

Sirius stopped puckering his lips at himself to turn towards Remus, who looked relaxed for a change. Knotgrass really did do wonders. "Have you been paying attention to his leather?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"Sort of hard not to at that ball. I mean…it was sort of…er…" Remus tried to demonstrate with his hands. It didn't quite work. "…There."

Sirius' suspicion soon ebbed away and was replaced with a query. "Are you going to finish that off or just hold it like a fucking twat?"

He was looking at Remus' joint like some sort of hungry animal looking for a bloody watering hole. "Yes, yes I am."

"Damn," Sirius sighed, stood up, and stretched.

"STOP!" Peter suddenly yelped. "STOP, STOP, STOP!"

"Ha ha, what's he yelling at?" Sirius said, stumbling for a moment and bumping into James' dresser, which seemed to attract his attention. "Oh, hallo, love. Didn't see you there."

"The shadow on the wall," Peter's voice trembled.

Sirius looked behind him, only to find a shadow of himself along James' candle-lit wall. "Oh, hello, shadow. Looking fetching as usual."

To James' horror, Sirius decided it was a good time to kiss the wall.

"You're higher than a bloody kite, Sirius," Remus said.

"You say that as though it's a bad thing! Oi, Moony, turn up the wireless! I like this song!"

Remus did as was told but sighed in return. "Padfoot, a song isn't playing. It's some bloke talking about Gringotts finances this year."

Sirius didn't seem to mind though. "Dance with me!"

"I don't like your hip gyrations. Might break something," Remus said.

"Haha, like my dresser," James said. He quickly regretted it, actually, when he noticed Sirius attempt to pick up the grand piece of wooden furniture. "_Don't_!"

"But what about my _urge?"_ Sirius pouted. "I need to dance with something. Where is your mum, Prongs? She'll dance with me!"

"You stay away from my mum! You'll probably corrupt her and…make her join a _broom gang."_

"…Broom gang?" Sirius said, resorting to shaking his hips in an odd sort of jig. "Sounds sort of kinky. Mrs. Potter in leather…"

"Ha ha, she's over sixty, you fucker."

"And she can't wear leather? No wonder she only wears those tartan robes. You're oppressing her wardrobe. You ought to be ashamed. Remus, you smell good."

"I do?" Remus asked.

"Yep, your sweater smells like… Oh God…it's amazing, whatever it is," Sirius said, and suddenly bit Remus' arm.

"Ouch! What did you do _that_ for?" Remus exclaimed, rubbing his arm and staring into Sirius darkening, hazy eyes.

"Smelled good. Thought it'd taste good, too," Sirius reasoned.

"Why am I even friends with you?" Remus asked.

"Because without me…" Sirius started. "Uhm…yes…ha ha."

"Thought so," Remus said.

"I love you guys."

"That's nice, Peter."

**XXX**

"These are some pictures of my father back in World War Two," Lily said, pointing towards the black-and-white and sepia-toned photos of a handsome young man in uniform, a couple of them with other men of the army as well. "My dad was called up during the Blitz, when he was only nineteen.

"Then he met Mum at a wedding of a friend of his from the military," she continued as she looked at an old picture of her parents (dated, in the corner, to have been taken in 1949) and a wedding picture taken in 1951. Mrs. Evans was quite the beauty then, with her high cheekbones, large eyes, plump lips, and light freckles.

"Then…_she_ was born a few years later." Lily glared at a baby picture of the Evanses and Petunia. "And then me five years after that."

A photo of Petunia and her parents with Lily as a baby was next on the wall of pictures. Further along the wall were mostly baby and toddler pictures of the Evans sisters separately and together: playing in backyards and bedrooms and bathrooms and by lakes and streams. It was apparent, from the colour photos, that Lily's red hair used to be a much more vibrant red, with bold curls. Her eyes, however, were just as green now as they were then.

"So…" Lily switched gears, turning towards Severus and slowly sipping her sweet wine. "Glad you stuck around to hear the history of the Evans family?"

"Sure," Severus replied, halfway through his second glass of scotch whiskey, and looking around the hallway in what must have been an obviously impatient, anxious manner, because Lily swiftly put a gentle hand on his shoulder. All he could do was stare at it.

"Relax," he heard her say. "Just breathe."

"I _am _breathing," Severus muttered, draining his glass.

"Really? It looks like you're breathing the alcohol rather than air," Lily observed with a raised brow.

"You didn't specify _what_ to breathe," Severus pointed out.

Lily chuckled. "I suppose not. Just don't get too hammered. I don't want to be the only relatively sober one in this house. I'm not much of a drinker yet."

"It was me."

Lily chuckled. "What? What was you?"

"Your sister's heel. I think I…accidentally…broke it," Severus said.

"How'd you have done that? Accidental magic?" Lily asked.

"I think so…I was sort of wishing she'd fall on her face," Severus murmured.

Lily giggled, her eyes hidden under her dark lashes momentarily. "I see. Well, I can't say I'm angry about it."

The duo wandered downstairs moments later only to be bombarded with a parade of sound, which remained muffled and suppressed upstairs, but hit their ears full force as they hit the bottom of the stairs.

"AND THEN…AND THEN PETUNIA GOES, 'BUT MUMMY, I HAVEN'T GOT ANY BISCUITS IN MY PANTS!'"

The house was like a magnet. A magnet for middle-aged individuals from all over the ruddy city into the Evanses' sitting room. Old jazz music drifted through the home on a large record player as the guests played cards, drank glass after glass and bottle after bottle of various drinks and spirits; munching on sweets in front of a wood-panelled colour television showing news reports and crowds gathering for New Year's around Central London and Big Ben.

"Mum gets like this every year," Lily said in a raised voice as she finished off a glass in the deserted kitchen and rolled her eyes at the hysterical occupants of the home. "She starts reminiscing and telling horrible stories about Petunia and I."

"And with biscuits in pants?" Severus smirked as helped himself to a third glass of the spirit.

"Apparently so," Lily sighed, and pushed her hair over her left shoulder. Her mother ordered her to change into something more "presentable", thus leading Lily to change into a simple white dress with a blue sweater covering her freckled shoulders. He noticed bold lipstick marks on the edge of her glass as she set the crystal down on the kitchen counter next to the sink. "I think she tells that one every year."

"Hm," Severus said, holding the wine glass and looking around the kitchen with an animated nature and lifted brows rarely seen by anyone; especially not Lily Evans. "You…have photos on the fridge."

Lily smiled lightly, "Yeah, stuck with magnets and stuff."

"We don't have that," Severus said softly.

"It's nothing to be jealous about, believe me," Lily snorted. "C'mon, Mum wants us to be relatively social."

"They're all smashed beyond reason. They can't tell the difference between a intelligent conversation and a lampshade," Severus said as he scratched his head.

He followed her back into the main room anyway, only to be ambushed by Mr. and Mrs. Evans and a camera.

"Lily! Lily, dear! Oh! Oh, you too Severus!" Matilda tittered and grabbed the two teenagers by their upper arms and dragged them towards the company.

"Severus, my boy," Edward Evans said with a hand on the boy's shoulder and pointed to the guests with his wine glass. "This is Mister and Missus Wales, Mister and Missus Oliver, Mister and Missus O'Connell and her brother Timmy Richards, Laura Shire, Mister and Missus York, Ian Frecklestien and his girlfriend Angelica Malone, and the two outside having a smoke are William Bretford and his friend Samantha North. Oh! And this is Mister and Missus Porter and next to them is Mister and Missus Compari and Mister and Missus Murray."

The guests all greeted him merrily (or, perhaps, drunkenly), and began to laugh and chat and deal more cards around a card table.

"Oooh, Lily! You have yourself a little boyfriend, eh?" Mrs. Oliver winked, her heavily-lidded, wrinkled eyes landing on Severus with a look of interest and a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Oh, no no no!" Lily chuckled. "I mean—yes, I do have a boyfriend, but Severus is just a friend from school."

"Oh, how is school going, love?"

"Great, thanks."

"You must be beating the lads away with a stick, Lily!" Laura Shire, a young thirty-something year old woman said, walking away from Timmy to approach the girl.

"Or a wand," Lily whispered to Severus with a smirk and hugged Laura tightly.

"Well don't you look beautiful!" Laura admired, taking a good look at the girl.

"As do you! You lost weight!" Lily smiled.

"Took a lot of work! Ran every day for an hour, haven't touched fish and chips in months, and haven't eaten a bit of chocolate!" Laura said proudly, but was interrupted by Mr. York.

"Are you a musician, boy?" barked York excitedly.

"He's talking to you," Lily said as Severus stared blankly at the television.

"Oh…no…no, sir," Severus replied slowly.

"I figured from the hair," York explained.

"Oh, honey, it's all a fashion. Remember when all the boys started wearing those little hats like those beatniks in America? Just like that!" Mrs. York said.

"We're taking pictures!" Edward interrupted with a chuckle and dragged Lily and Snape to the wall next to the kitchen door. The two were thrust up against an off-white wall hung with several photos of the Evanses, as well as a watercolour painting. They were soon surrounded by a few guests.

Severus heard Lily protesting the photo but he, on the other hand, was more distracted by the close contact between himself and the red-haired girl. Their shoulders touched as she talked animatedly to her father.

"Don't fuss!" Matilda chided. "'S just for sentimental value! No, don't hold it like that, Ed! We'll send it to your through the post when it's developed."

Edward was peering and squinting at the camera as though he'd never held one before. The man was obviously tipsy, along with everyone else in the house…including Severus as he drained his glass once more.

"Merlin, I'm sorry," Lily murmured to him hurriedly. "I should have warned you: my parents are absolutely intolerable when drunk."

"'S alright," Severus said slowly.

"Okay, now stand closer, kids," Matilda directed as Edward held the camera steady…albeit slanted.

Lily and Severus glanced at each other and both blushed and looked away from each other in an awkward silence as they shuffled to stand closer together.

Severus felt a chill travel up and down his spine, through his stomach and to his skull as he felt Lily's curved hip brush against his own.

"Come on, put your arm around her!" Matilda smiled, although Severus sensed Edward stiffen.

"They're close enough, Tilly," Edward insisted.

"Nonsense!" Matilda said. "You two are friends, yeah? Severus, put your arm around her waist, darling."

All the women in the room were now surrounding the two and smiling fondly, as though the two were a couple of children putting on a holiday play at primary school rather than two individuals of sixteen (almost seventeen in Severus' case) years; one of whom already had a boyfriend who she should be photographed with in such an extremely friendly stance…the other of whom hardly felt as though he belonged or should have even been there in the first place.

But he quickly, would be carelessly, snaked his arm around Lily's waist, holding her in place stiffly before she sighed and relaxed into him, wrapping her arm around his waist, as well.

"Aw, isn't that precious," Matilda asked no one in particular.

"I'll allow you to destroy the evidence later," Lily whispered in his ear, her warm breath startling him as he picked up the strong aroma of sweet wine and a natural, clean, fresh scent coming from her hair—it reminded him of something sweet and festive, resembling the equally intoxicating aromas emitted from the various candles and sweets around the room.

Her hand now rested on his embarrassingly thin waist, which was covered by black trousers much too big for him. Even while close to tipsy he could still determine the material of her dress as the white cloth smothered his fingertips: silk; white silk, turned an off white with a hint of gold in the yellow light of the lamps and candles.

He glanced at her again out of the corner of his eye and reluctantly realised that, despite her disgusting habit of getting involved into everyone's business and her cheek, Lily Evan's obligation to attempt to do good was…relatively admirable in his eyes. He understood why she was popular: she had a good looks, smarts, an appropriately edgy defiance about her…and a good heart.

Despite that, he couldn't bring himself to call her a friend.

He didn't _want_ Lily Evans to be his friend.

He wanted her to leave him alone, not immerse herself in _his_ problems.

He wouldn't let her.

She didn't deserve it.

"Smile!" Edward said, yet Severus reacted late.

Two photos were taken and Severus was worried that he may have blinked from such a strong flash.

"Erm…Severus?"

Severus glanced at Lily, whose lips formed a sheepish smile.

"You can…your hand…my, er, hip."

"Oh, erm," Severus muttered as he released his arm around her. "Sorry."

"I'm going to get a glass of water. I'll be back in a sec," Lily said, rushing back into the kitchen, leaving him alone with the overstimulated adults. As he leaned against the wall once more, he looked around the room, bored, until his glance fell on Matilda Evans, who was pouring herself another glass of scotch whiskey from the table crowded with bottles of alcohol.

"Severus, dear! Come, come!" Matilda called, as though just laying eyes on the boy.

Severus had no choice but to approach Mrs. Evans, only to hear a question that he was not expecting.

"Severus, do you fancy my daughter?"

"No," Severus said promptly, already becoming increasingly frustrated and embarrassed despite nobody overhearing.

"Oh come now, dear! No need to be shy. I know that she's…what do you lot call them these days…oh yes! I know she is what you blokes call a 'foxy lass', yeah?"

Never in his life had Severus ever heard anyone use the words 'foxy' and 'lass' in the same sentence. And he wasn't all that sure that he could bear to hear it again without cringing.

"No, Mrs. Evans. She's…a nice…person, but…I don't. Sorry."

Suddenly, Lily reappeared, walking towards the two, but from such an angle that only Severus could see her. She was about to make her presence known when Matilda started nodding her head in understanding.

"Oooooh, I see. So you prefer blokes, is it?"

"MUM!"

Severus excused himself to another glass.

**XXX**

It was a few minutes until midnight and only the scent of the strong, foul-smelling herbs drifted around the room. Scattered amongst the dozens of inane photos strewn around the floor of James' room were crumbs of cake and other sweets. An hour into their, as Sirius declared it, 'Knot Year' party, the boys were absolutely famished (a typical side-effect). And despite Sirius' incessant pleas for James not to start, the bespectacled boy could not, and absolutely wouldn't, stop talking about…

"Lily's hair is so…" James sighed, muttering and looking absolutely miserable. His high was becoming absolutely melancholy. "_Red_. Red like…like…like my sheets."

"Your sheets are blue, James," Remus reminded him.

"Blue, red, same difference, mate," James said. "And…Merlin…she has really nice knees, you know."

"SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT AND NEVER BROUGHT TO MIIIIIND! DO DO DO DO DA DA DA DA AND AULD LANG SYNE!" Sirius began to sing, his head tilted back and his dark hair touching his bare shoulder blades (the four had decided that shirts were unnecessary hours ago).

"OI, SHUT UP!" James yelled. "I'm trying to be deep! Like an ocean!"

"More like a puddle," Remus said.

"FOR AULD LANG SYNE, MY DEAR, FOR AULD LANG SYNE, WE'LL TAKE A CUP OF KINDNESS YET, FOR AULD LANG—"

James promptly threw a pillow at Sirius chest.

"OOF! Fuck off, you twat, I'm singing. My soul is free."

"Alright, Stubby. Just sing to yourself," James said.

"Wanker."

"Tit-dragger."

"Your mum."

"You like my mum. She feeds you cakes."

Sirius considered this for a moment.

"Back to Evans," James said. "I…think I love her."

"No you don't," Sirius chuckled.

"Yes I do. I love her. Luuuurve. You know. Real lurve," James insisted with sad eyes around at the boys.

"Love," Remus sighed while Peter poked at his bellybutton.

"Am I fat?" Peter asked sadly.

"Your arse sure is," Sirius drawled.

"Lily said my head was fat…sort of. Remember last year? When he pulled down Snivellus' dirty arse pants?" James reminded them.

"How could I forget?" Sirius asked, seeming to relish the memory and began to giggle. "The look on all their faces. Unforgettable, mate. Un-for-fucking-gettable."

"Apparently my chiding did absolutely nothing," Remus said.

"It did…for about five minutes, ha ha ha," Sirius laughed.

"Anyway, she said my head was fat. That I can't get off my ruddy broom," James groaned. "Why doesn't she call Alexander's ears fat?"

Remus shrugged.

"Fucking buggering twat," James groaned. "Why him? Why not me? I mean…I don't have fat ears. My ears are cute, right?"

"Alexander's are cuter," Sirius mocked.

"Shut up," James said, tenderly touching his ears.

"I think your ears are nice, mate," Peter said seriously. "I've seen worse. Like…Professor Slughorn has _really_ small ones. And they're _hairy_."

"Are _mine_ hairy?" James asked worriedly. He couldn't have hairy ears! Especially not if it meant the difference between snogging Lily or…not. James promptly dug his face into his open palms. "I lose!"

"No, they're perfect. Like a baby's bum," Peter said.

James looked up at the blonde boy sitting across from him with a face of pure disgust. "Bum?"

"Take it as a compliment," Remus suggested.

"Oh, well thanks," James said with a warm smile. "Like I was saying before the bum got in the way…I really think I'm in love with her…and her _hair_…and her _freckles…"_

"No you aren't. You're bonkers!" Sirius laughed hysterically.

"Who are you to say?" James asked, deciding to poke his bellybutton just as Peter had been doing, earlier.

"Ha ha ha, I'm all-knowing!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with hilarity. "And as an all-knowing _being_ I know that you are not in love with her. _You're in lust with her!"_

James' mouth wide hung open. "Am not!"

"You're in lust with her and her hair and her bloody freckles. That's not love. That's freckle rape."

Suddenly, to the surprise of all the boys, Remus doubled over laughing, clutching his side and his head banging on the floor. He even began to roll a bit and as though his laughs were contagious, Peter too began to chuckle.

"Freckle!" Remus managed to breathe out. "Rape!"

"You _would_ think that's funny, wolfy," Sirius said.

"What do I do?" James asked, running his hand through his hair. "Remus, you're friends with Evans."

Remus sobered up from his laughing streak and looked at James, brushing a strand of hair out of his face. "Yeah…"

"What do you reckon?" James said intensely.

"AND SURELY YE'LL BE YOUR PINT-STOWP AND SURELY I'LL BE MIIIIINE!"

"She doesn't like you giving her stupid gifts…like that nightie. Wrote to me about it. Lily was furious," Remus said.

"Well what does she _want?"_ James asked sadly.

"The moon?" Peter said dreamily. "Who _wouldn't_ want the moon?"

"I wouldn't."

"Oh…right, sorry, Moony," Peter sighed.

"Back to me," James said, stealing the spotlight once more.

"She likes books, and poetry, and charms," Remus said. "And music."

"She likes the Beatles," James smiled. "You know, that band…Lily told me in first year. Said I was crazy not to have heard of them."

"Aye," Remus nodded.

"Next year, you lot. It's going to work out." Remus opened his mouth, only to be cut off once more. "I know I've said it about four times before, but I can really feel it."

"Maybe that's the Knotgrass talking," Sirius said. "You can do better than Evans, mate."

"There _is _nothing better than Evans," James said fiercely. "She's first rate. She's groovy. _La crème de la crème_. Or something like that. Aye."

"Next year should be interesting, to say the least," Remus smirked.

"Interesting doesn't cut it! It'll be amazing, fantastic, superb!"

"SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS?" Peter helped.

"What?" Remus, James, and Sirius all said simultaneously.

"Forget it."

"I like that word…ha ha…I'll have to use it more often," Sirius decided.

"Please don't," Remus sighed.

Peter, on the other hand, looked very pleased with himself.

"WE TWA HAE PAIL'D IN THE BURN FRAE MORNING SUN TIL DIIIINE, BUT SEAS BETWEEN US BRAID HAE ROAR'D SIN AULD LANG SYNE!"

It was moments like these that James wanted to savour forever. Moments in which Sirius was singing at the top of his lungs, high beyond reason, while the rest of them laughed for no reason…or when they were just roaming Hogwarts, pranking and creating plans…or just passing stupid notes to each other…everything. He hoped he'd always remember them. He knew things wouldn't always be like they were now, laying shirtless without a care in the world. Maybe it was the Knotgrass that made him feel such a love for them at that moment…but he doubted it.

Times were changing, and as much as he liked to think it didn't scare him, he was kidding himself. Bluntly, it scared him shitless.

He could be dead tomorrow.

Worse yet, his family…his friends could be dead tomorrow.

Lily…

The war hung over the Wizarding World like an impending noose. You knew it was there, just waiting, but you could avoid if you tried. If you really tried, you could make it appear as though it was gone. Just for a little while. But that little while did wonders to one's consciousness.

He smiled, they were all singing and laughing around his room now. High off their arses, taking photos of one another that they'd all regret the next morning and would be sure to take advantage of if the opportunity for blackmail ever came.

James didn't want it to end. He didn't want to stop swinging his shirt around in his left hand…glasses in his right…and singing like a loon.

It was moments like these that most took for granted. But James Potter wouldn't.

He couldn't.

After all, tomorrow they could be lying dead, shirtless on the floor or eating his mum's scones.

Anything could happen. He couldn't risk taking _anything_ for granted.

…Then again…it could have just been the Knotgrass talking.

**XXX**

The evening's events spun into one large blob of noise, sound, embarrassment, and laughter. Everyone in the home was glued to the television set, waiting for the broadcasts of Big Ben's bells ringing and Londoners gathering, some running amuck at Trafalgar Square.

She's always wanted to go there again for New Year's. She hadn't gone since she was about six, but she remembered it being a flurry of activity that you couldn't help but be excited about.

It was strange, having Severus Snape (who was getting steadily drunk) in her home for the evening. Severus Snape, target of torment and poor jokes, and also a very intelligent human being.

Though so sad.

"Thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven!"

Thought of the death of Eileen still caused a shudder to travel through her.

But one thing that Severus mentioned yesterday at the funeral still bothered her to the bone: What if Eileen recognized had her? Of course, there are probably plenty of…Lily Evanses…

With red hair, green eyes, and Muggle roots.

It was all just so strange to her! But she tried not to think about it and pay attention to the television set, counting down to the New Year, which was literally seconds away.

"Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen!"

"Severus," Lily breathed. "I'm really glad you came. Truly."

He didn't respond, but drained his glass for what may have been the fourth or fifth time that night.

"Severus!" she said, trying to get his attention.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six!"

"What?" Severus asked, staring at the television set.

"Just…"

"Five, four, three!"

"What?" Severus asked again, looking at her finally.

"Two, one—HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The adults promptly and simultaneously began to sing "Auld Lang Syne", as though they had all planned it, raising their glasses and kissing each other and smiling. Lily, with much surprise, noticed her father getting teary-eyed as he looked at the television set and quickly sharing a kiss with Matilda. She couldn't help but smile.

"Nothing…just…nothing. Happy New Year, Severus."

With that, she lightly touched his shoulder, causing Severus to turn his head towards her. His eyes darted back and forth from her hand—resting on that old, smoky jacket—to her face, and his eyes grew wide as she leaned in towards him and quickly kissed him on the cheek, just as though he were her friend.

Why she did it, Lily never truly knew, and she didn't have much time to ponder it as her parents dragged her away for hugs and kisses strongly smelling of champagne. Maybe she did it out of subconscious pressure due to the kisses everyone else in the room were distributing. Maybe she felt bad that, unlike her, he didn't have a mother to go and hug and kiss him, as Lily's mother was doing right now. Maybe he was lonely and maybe he appreciated it.

Or perhaps he was horrified.

For whatever reason, she didn't regret it and didn't wish to take it back, and tried not to think of it again.

Little did she know that while she hugged and laughed with her mother, Severus stood alone, in a complete daze, with his fingertips lightly touching the spot on his cheek at which Lily's bold, lipstick-covered lips had touched his skin.

**XXX**

Alcohol, old biscuits, and crumbled fruitcake drifted through Severus' nostrils as he stirred in his sleep, having a dreamless night for the first time since Christmas. He twisted and turned, trying to get comfortable. Groaning, he discovered something didn't feel quite right. A soft, fluffy pillow graced his head…feeling quite different than usual; his pillow was usually had a rather deflated air about it. His eyes opened halfway and he noticed, also, that he still wore his father's fag-ridden leather jacket. Perhaps that was what was keeping him from getting comfortable again. He quickly shrugged it off, only to feel a sudden, sharp pain at his elbow.

Severus rubbed elbow, as well as his eyes, trying to figure out what obstructed him.

_Oh, just the sofa_, Severus thought, and quickly pulled off the jacket again before plopping his head back down on his pillow and closing his eyes.

Mere seconds passed until his eyes sprung open once again. This time, it wasn't from comfort…instead it was surprise…fear…and wonderment.

Severus didn't have a couch in his room. And his couch was certainly not a lovely brown colour.

Severus was wide-awake at that moment, and took another good look at the pillow.

It was pink.

He didn't own _anything _pink.

His heartbeat quickened as he glanced around him. And that's when it hit him.

He wasn't at his house.

That wasn't his couch he hit his elbow against.

And this certainly wasn't his pillow.

His heart suddenly stopped as he looked to his right…only to find a slumbering Lily Evans atop the plush couch.

"Fuck," he whispered.

Looking out the window he could see extremely heavy fog caressing the glass. It seemed to be another typical, overcast day to start off the New Year. All the guests were gone, the front room still had half-empty glasses, little dishes of snacks, and he even found a pair of black shoes on the floor by the ornate Christmas tree by the fireplace.

He scratched his back as his gaze suddenly fell upon the girl to whose family the house belonged, and as he got a good look at her, it took a lot of self-control not to laugh.

Lily's auburn hair was incredibly messy, coming down in tangled strands across her face. Her mouth was opened slightly and if you looked closely, one could see a thin, delicate string of saliva hanging from the corner of her pink lips. It was amazing that she still managed to look pretty under such circumstances. He noticed she too still wore her clothes from the previous night, which, after surely tossing and turning a few time on the couch, caused her dress to be wrinkled, and pulled out of place in certain areas. A rather ample amount of the girl's chest was exposed, and Severus forced himself to look away from the gentle rising and falling motion of Lily's lightly freckled chest as she breathed.

He felt his breath catch in his throat as he hazily thought back to the previous night and that damn kiss. He didn't know what to think of it.

He didn't hate it. He had to admit that much. It was just so unexpected and…tender. Something he certainly wasn't used to.

He needed to go home. He couldn't stay here, in Lily Evans' home, all day! What if Mrs. Evans decided that she wanted him to stay for breakfast or something? No, he'd have to leave. With a groan he got up, rubbed his sore back, and looked atop the fireplace.

He had stepped forward, making his way to the fireplace, when his foot made contact with a half-deflated balloon which just had enough air in it to make a small pop.

Severus winced, and turned around to see if the sleeping prefect had heard anything.

She kept drooling on, and he breathed a sigh of relief and took another step forward, only to lightly stub his toe on a nearby chair, which proceeded to creak ever so softly.

He suddenly heard shuffling, and turned around to see Lily groan, rub her eyes, and stretch her left arm. It was beyond him how on Earth she could not wake up at a balloon popping, but rouse from a chair barely creaking!

"Evans," he whispered.

The redhead continued to make little mewing noises and rub her eyes.

"Evans. Lily?" he said, taking a step closer. "I'm leav—"

He was unable to complete his statement, however, because Lily suddenly opened her sleep-filled eyes, shrieked, and kicked her leg out…her foot swiftly making contact with Severus' groin.

"OH MY GOD!" Lily gasped, leapt up, quickly straightened out her dress, and then bent down towards the groaning boy. "Are you alright?"

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you, Evans?" Severus wheezed, landing on the floor in a foetal position with his eyes squeezed shut. "Do I _look_ alright to you?"

"Erm…"

"Why didn't you just take an extra step and rip my bollocks off?"

"No need to get snippy, now," Lily snapped, flailing her arms around wondering what to do to help the poor boy.

_"No need to get snippy?"_ Severus asked incredulously, in a high-pitched tone. "Do you realize how good of a kick you have?"

"I do?" Lily asked, and she sounded rather proud of herself. "Well, I did sort of do leg squats every night around the dorm whenever I got the—"

"Why. Did. You. Kick. Me?" Severus growled into the carpet.

"You scared me! It's so dark and…you could have been…breaking in?" Lily reasoned lamely.

"What on Earth is with your family and burglars?" Severus bit back.

Lily grabbed his hand and helped him up before he made any more of a fuss. Her lips were parted and lightly chapped with smeared lipstick, and her eyes were a mess due to smudged eye makeup and…did he spot a bit of glitter next to her eyebrow? She looked a lovely mess.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Lily sighed as she began to edge towards the kitchen. She began to glance back every few seconds, as though making sure he didn't collapse on the floor again on his own accord. "Do you need anything, Severus? I make a mighty good cuppa!"

He didn't want to hear it. He, albeit sorely, made his way over towards the fireplace, and quickly scanned the shelf covered with family photos until he found a cringe-worthy photo of a grinning, obnoxious young blonde, wearing a purple and orange tie-dye shirt, standing with her hands on her hips in what looked like a park.

"JUST WAIT ONE SECOND!" he heard Lily call from the kitchen. "HOW DO YOU TAKE YOUR TEA?"

Quickly slipping his hand through the small opening of the pot, he grabbed a handful of the shimmering powder and quickly threw it into the dying embers.

"I'VE GOT A PLASTIC BAG WITH ICE IN IT! THAT'LL HELP, YEAH?"

That was the last thing he heard Lily say as he wasted no time stepping into the roaring green flames and yelled his address and was soon spinning…and spinning…and spinning…and when he finally flew out of his fireplace, face to face with his father smoking on the couch…and…

"Well," Tobias said. "I ain't cleaning tha'up."

He wished he hadn't had that fourth glass of scotch whiskey.

* * *

**A/N 2: **I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter (if you survived it!). Thanks for reading and I'd love your reviews! They really do give me some confidence in my writing, which I've been questioning recently. 

ALSO! One of my LJ friends has completed a commissioned fan art based on a certain scene in this chapter. If you go to my LJ (linked in my user info) and find my public entry for January 1, 2007 you'll find a link to it :D


	19. Camilla Jenkins

**A/N EDIT 3/8/07:** Okay, my beta finally replied to me with the **edited version of this chapter! **So the chapter has been replaced with the original update on 2/28/07. Sorry, I really just had to get something in before the end of February because I have some sort of obsessive compulsive thing I seem to be developing…ahem. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

_**X Camilla Jenkins**_

Winter hols had come and gone and with that (as well as an extra half foot of snow) came the second term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If the sixth-years thought that their year full of exams, presentations, and reports was bad enough, they were hardly prepared for the second half of their NEWTs year which had already proved more difficult than the first half!

The self-proclaimed Marauders were back to their usual pranks the moment they stepped foot into the castle on their first day back. By curfew the quartet had already managed to attach a string of firecrackers to Mrs. Norris's tail, and James so badly hexed a brazen Slytherin first-year (for nearly bumping into Lily) that the teen received a three-night detention. Remus did not tend to receive detentions anywhere near as often as the rest of his friends, due to the lack of prohibitions on his curfew thanks to his prefect status (as well as common sense!), but he was known to be with the nightly crime-doers at the scene of the crime, often prompting Filch (who usually caught the miscreants) to declare him part of the night's conspiracy.

More than anything, however, was the return of the more public acts of the Marauders' shameless defiance which the students of Hogwarts seemed to relish and love, much to James's glee. He seemed to have more fun than ever before, picking out random students to prank during eating hours, kids in the common room, and especially in his classes. He just couldn't seem to get himself out of the spotlight…or detention.

This, though entertaining to much of the student body, was not droll in the slightest in Lily's opinion. And the Gryffindor prefect had enough on her plate.

With the slow, lethargic return to regularly scheduled classes and piles upon piles of homework, came rumours and confirmation of Lily Evans and Alexander Jacobson's relationship. The affair of the two Muggle-born students spread quicker than Lily ever imagined. With all the hubbub and hype the relationship received, she was surprised it didn't reach the _Daily Prophet_. Or even the_ Sun_.

She found herself bombarded with questions and not-so-sly innuendoes from the Gryffindors in her year. Even some younger Gryffindors were interested, and conferred with Lily about who _they_ fancied. She had no idea why they were asking _her_ of all people about how to commence a relationship. Lily thought she was pants when it came to dealing with crushes, but the chipper girls didn't seem to care in the slightest.

One girl who Lily found herself incredibly fond of was a second-year named Natalyia who had a crush on Callum, another Gryffindor second-year.

"All I know about him is that he likes Quidditch an awful lot, and he is always messing up in potions class. Professor Slughorn doesn't like him very much. Calls him a menace," Natalyia told Lily one day on the stairs of the girls' tower before lunch.

"Well, have you talked to him before?" Lily asked the twelve-year-old.

"Yes, I have! But I only asked him if he had an extra pair of gloves since I couldn't find mine. He gave 'em to me and was really nice about it. Does that mean something, Lily?" Natalyia asked hopefully, wringing her hand together and moving her feet about nervously.

"Maybe you can find time to talk to him after some of your potions classes. Maybe give him a few pointers?" Lily suggested to the fretful preteen.

"Oh no, I'm no good at Potions, either." Natalyia shook her head rapidly, causing her pigtails to swing around her head like helicopter blades.

"Do you like Quidditch?" Lily questioned.

"Of course I do!" she said excitedly.

"How about you sit next to him at the Slytherin-versus-Ravenclaw game coming up?" Lily proposed with a smile. "Plenty of time to catch up, yeah? Just don't be too forward."

"Wicked! Thanks, Lily!" Natalyia whispered excitedly, and with that ran off…

"You must have forgotten how quickly information moves around here, Lily," Alice told Lily with the next day at breakfast as she poured over her neglected Herbology textbook, _Interesting Foliage for the Fantastically Insipid_ by Herbert Horngarden. She wasn't the only one who should have concentrated on more work over the leisurely break, Lily thought nervously before responding to her friend.

"But…it's sort of different when you're on the opposite side! When they're actually talking about _you,_ it's…I don't know…" Lily explained lamely as she picked at her oatmeal with plump blueberries and submerged in milk. "It's just different, you know?"

Alice nodded her head understandingly before greeting Emmeline, who just came down to the Great Hall.

"What's different?" Emmeline asked as she placed the tail of her robes under her thighs to keep warm from the cool bench.

Lily quickly caught Emmeline up on their conversation.

"You're happy, though, right? With Alexander?" Emmeline said.

"Oh, of course," Lily said after swallowing a hearty mouthful of her warm porridge. "We're great. And he really…he really understands how it is. You know, being a Muggle-born amongst all this chaos going on outside the castle."

_And inside,_ something told her.

"Well, _you_ may be happy," said Marlene, joining the girls and snatching a muffin from a basket on the great oak table. She looked oddly cheerful, especially since Marlene was hardly a morning person. Perhaps she just overheard some intriguing gossip. "But Potter is absolutely positively _furious."_

"Yes, you should have seen him yesterday during dinner, Lily," Emmeline confirmed with lifted brows. "He was staring at the Ravenclaw table like he wanted to pummel someone."

"Three guesses as to whom!" Alice snorted and took a small sip of tea before adding an extra squeeze of lemon.

"He kept staring at Alexander and me during the ball," Lily said as she moved her spoon about the bowl. "He's just going to have to deal with it, I suppose."

"I'd want something else to look at too, if I was stuck with that Florence girl yapping away in my ear all night. I don't blame the bloke," Marlene said.

"Marlene, did I tell you what the idiot sent me for Christmas?" Lily sighed.

"Perfume?" Marlene guessed after a gulp of pumpkin juice.

"No, that was fourth year. A nightgown, Marlene! A bloody…hot pink…lacy nightie!" Lily said quietly with a bit of edge to her voice.

"I still think it sounds a bit kinky," Emmeline said seriously.

"You're not helping," Lily groaned. "I wrote to you lot about that gift he gave me, yeah? And the love note from hell. Not only was it the most atrocious-sounding…object I've ever come across, it was…ugh!"

"What's that?"

Lily nearly chocked on her blueberry in surprise.

Emmeline and Marlene looked up at the voice, as did Alice, and after she swallowed the menacing fruit Lily grinned as she found Alexander Jacobson standing behind her with half-dried hair and a beige satchel hanging limply over his left shoulder.

"Oh, sit, sit!" Lily said eagerly, scooting over to give the boy some room. She had surprised herself on the train ride back up to Hogwarts, earlier that week, by how excited she was to see him again. They ran into each other at the train station—much to the embarrassment of both Lily _and _Alexander, due to the fact that their families were with them both during their meeting (Lily's father just happened to have his camera again). Luckily, the two managed to escape the barrage of motherly reminiscing and the immediate hesitance of Alexander's father to Edward Evans; Mister Jacobson was, of course, the father of the son who was doing Lord knows what to Mister Evans's youngest daughter.

The two even found themselves chatting whenever she wasn't on corridor duty and during those little discussions Lily realized just how engaging it was to talk to him; how easy it was to talk to him about…everything. She felt comfortable discussing Muggle life with someone who really understood how it is to live with them, who knew about Muggle films and _Top of the Pops_. Of course, she's talked to and been acquainted with plenty of students with Muggle blood, but Alexander was different. And, unlike anyone else, he was her boyfriend.

"How are you?" Lily asked.

"Good," Alexander said and lightly kissed Lily on the lips, not noticing the other three girls beaming, or Marlene suppressing giggles. "You?"

"Grand!" Lily sighed sarcastically. "Just talking about Potter's latest antics."

"Hm, what's he done this time?" Alexander frowned as he stowed away the latest _Daily Prophet_ into his bag.

Lily opened her mouth to explain, but Alexander quickly put his index finger along her lips. "Tell me later, I've got to finish up an essay for Arithmancy on," he frowned in concentration, "the magical use of numbers applied contemporary witchcraft."

"Well, it sounds…stimulating?" Lily offered.

"Ha, I don't think so." He then leaned into her ear and whispered, "Meet me in the corridor on the fourth floor next to the painting of those sheep after you're done with your classes and tell me about it."

"'Kay," Lily whispered back as he pulled away from her ear. She swiftly received a wink another peck from Alexander, and with a small wave to the rest of her friends, he greeted the Gray Lady and headed out the great hall.

"And what did he say?" Marlene quirked an eyebrow and winked. "Meet me by the lake so we can have a proper snog? If I'm lucky I may see your frilly granny-sized knickers?"

"Hey!" Lily giggled. "I didn't bring those this year."

"Oh yeah?" Marlene challenged. "Then why did I find a mysterious cotton item hanging out of your trunk this morning? IT WAS LAVENDER. AND FRILLY. AND HAD GRANDMUM WRITTEN ALL OVER IT."

"If so, Mum decided to go on a knickers reinforcement binge," Lily sighed. "But I'm not wearing hideous pants today anyway. They're actually rather nice."

"Lace?" Emmeline asked.

"No, Emmeline, metal," Marlene snorted.

"They're cotton, actually," Lily said, licking her spoon idly. "White."

"How boring," Marlene replied.

"Look who's talking! As though you wear exciting knickers," Alice defended.

"Point taken." Marlene gave up and began to catch the girls up on what she saw on her way to lunch yesterday.

"That girl slapped the taste right out of his mouth! Get a look over at him now. Still got a nasty bruise. Probably too bloody proud to go to Pomfrey, the git."

The rest of breakfast carried on like a typical morning, but Lily did, to her concern, find herself glancing in the direction of the other side of the long table where James sat flicking cereal at first years with his friends. All the while, she couldn't help but wonder whether or not he was really as furious as the girls divulged.

**XXX**

The first week back passed in a blur to Severus. There was hardly any time for him to spend as he liked—his entire schedule was filled with times to do his homework and when to silently patrol the corridors.

But when he pondered what other homework he had to complete by Monday, he was happily surprised to discover that he had little work to do for the weekend. His good mood increased drastically until he was at the portrait hole of the Slytherin common room, about to say the password, only to come into contact with Amelia barrelling out of the entrance and nearly colliding with him.

"Oh!" Amelia gasped as she stopped herself promptly. It looked as though she was crying. The brunette swiftly wiped her eyes on the back of her hand onto the side of her robes. "S-sorry."

"Don't be," Severus said briskly and tried to walk around her.

"I-if y-you see…Evan. C-can you t-tell him that I need to s-speak wi-with him, please?" Amelia stuttered miserably. "It's v-very impo-important."

"Fine."

"Th-thank you," Amelia whispered, trying to smile before continuing on her way down the hallway.

Severus continued into the Slytherin common room, noticing, with concern, that suddenly his mood had dropped dramatically, even as Regulus called him over towards himself and a group of boys, including a couple of his roommates.

"Severus, watch this!" Regulus said excitedly as he leapt over a small table to get to his sallow friend. His tie was loosened, as well as his robes, and Severus noticed for the first time since he'd been back that Regulus seemed to have grown over a mere three weeks. Not just in height, but his entire appearance was aged. The fifteen-year-old was not only appearing to really mature, but he was certainly achieving the famous Black genes as well. "Crouch is trying to see how many Eye-Watering Gum Drops he can fit into his mouth. He is already at forty-three! How fucking amazing is that?"

Severus had to admit, it _was_ pretty impressive. It's hard to put _one_ of the excruciating gumdrops into your mouth, let alone _forty-three_.

"He's going to explode," Severus said with a hint of interest.

"I know," Regulus said hungrily, as though hoping the combustion would happen sooner rather than later, leaving him with a story sure to entertain dozens.

Severus felt the fifth-year glance at him repeatedly as the other boys began to root for and cheer on Crouch, who was steadily growing redder and redder in the face as tears began to stream down his face. Even several of the older Slytherins heartily rooted their housemate on.

"Say," Regulus said suddenly through the commotion. "Might I have a word with you alone?"

Severus had a deep, burning feeling that he knew what Regulus wanted to talk about, but didn't argue when they walked away from the entertaining scene and into the area of the boys' dormitory. Regulus leaned against the wall, which was cushioned and covered with elaborate deep green tapestries, some with gold embroidery and others with silver and other vibrant colours, but all on the dark green velvet.

"Listen, your letter…"

He knew it.

"I'm sorry about your mother. I found something about it in the _Prophet_, too. Obituaries. I've taken to reading them…mostly to see how each side is…you know, 'doing'." Regulus smirked for a second but then grew serious.

He _didn't_ know about that detail.

"What?"

"There was a bit in it about your mother," Regulus elaborated, and rummaged through his robe pocket, pulled out a crinkled, torn-out piece of the _Prophet_, and handed it to Severus. "Kept it in case you didn't read it…which I'm assuming you didn't, based on your reaction."

Severus looked at the piece of paper, ignoring a bit of an ad for Becca's Best New Year sale and a cut-off article about how to efficiently protect your small business from invaders, and found the obituary section…and there is was.

_Eileen Prince Snape, wife of Tobias Snape and mother of sixth-year Hogwarts student Severus Snape, died on Christmas morning due to poisoning. An enquiry was deemed unnecessary due to conjecture of self-infliction. Where the poison was developed is not known. Eileen Snape was 46._

"I asked Mother if she knew who she was. She said she did but refused to say anything else after that. I'm guessing she's not too fond of her for…you know," Regulus said with a small shrug. "Apparently the Princes were rather influential and your mother halted the winning streak."

And as if he didn't have enough suppressed rage for his mother…she just _had_ to come from an _influential_ pure-blood family!

"You can keep it, by the way," Regulus waved at it breezily.

"Thanks," Severus muttered, stuffing the paper into his trouser pocket. He felt slightly ashamed of his mother and couldn't help but wonder what Regulus's mother _really_ thought of his blood-traitor mother.

What she thought of _him_.

Regulus licked his lips quickly, glanced around, and began to whisper. "Was it an all-Muggle funeral?"

Severus hesitated before answering. Regulus _knew_ that Severus wasn't pure-blood. Most of Slytherin house knew it. It just wasn't spoken of…and he was thankful for it. But it always came as a shock when it _was_ implied.

"Yeah," Severus said. "It was."

"Sorry 'bout that," Regulus winced as though lemon had just been squirted into a cut on his arm; he truly looked pained and Severus began to wonder whether or not Regulus had ever, in his life, been in contact with a Muggle. "Hope it wasn't too unbearable around them."

He thought of Lily's surprising presence at the crematorium, the New Year evening the next day… That ruddy _kiss_ she gave him before the exhausted teens had taken to shutting their eyes and eventually slumbering in the Evanses' living room from the hour and the alcohol.

"No, it could have been worse, I suppose," Severus replied quickly.

"It must feel…like something else, yeah?" Regulus sighed, trying to be sympathetic.

"Yeah…something else," Severus said.

Suddenly, a barrage of groans and clapping broke out and Wilkes came running down towards them. "You've got to see this! Gumdrops flying everywhere! Crouch sounds like he is going to pass out!"

"C'mon, let's see this," Regulus grinned, nodding towards Severus.

"I'll pass. I'm actually pretty…"

_Exhausted? Upset? Bored? Feel like I'm going to go crazy if I have to stay here any longer and listen to you talk about my mother's death or wonder what your mother thinks of it? Contemplating how the hell the_ Prophet_ knew about my mother's death?_

"Tired…yes, I think I'm going to take a rest. See you tomorrow," Severus said, and spun around towards the descending staircase, not looking behind him, and made his way towards the sixth-year dormitories.

He felt dizzy, tired…overwhelmed. It came all of a sudden.

He had to sit down, lie down, and fall asleep…

_He woke up with a bang. _

_Literally; his head banged against something hard. What was it? Ground? A table surface? No._

_His eyes finally focused and he found himself in a familiar room. A room he wanted to be as far away from as possible. Why was he here?_

_"Hello!"_

_Severus winced, the back of his head still searing with pain, and looked around to see…_

_"Oh bloody hell, not **you** again!"_

_But it_ _**was** her again. That damned "Anima", in her same shimmering white robes and long, ethereal blonde hair. She was smiling at him as though he were the most amusing thing in the world._

_"I told you we'd meet again, Severus Snape," she told him. "Animas always keep their promises. I thought you read up on them?"_

_"How did you know about that?"_

_"I know lots of things about you, Severus," she said slowly, with an almost mad gleam in her eye._

_"If only you could be detained for harassment," Severus muttered, and stared around the room. "Now, would you care to explain to me why I'm here? Back in my room. Well, my room in…"_

_"We're in your room in the summer of 1964," the Anima said blissfully. "How does it feel?"_

_"Fabulous," Severus said with a roll of the eyes._

_"Now, let's find you and your parents, shall we?" she said, walking out of the door. He continued to stare around him…comprehending the peach and olive green wallpaper and the toy box…small bed…_

_He gently caressed the edge of his old, deep mahogany bedpost as the pads of his fingers fathered the dust collecting there; some parts thicker than others. He even felt a cool, warm breeze trickle in through the open window, outside lay the poor town he still lived in with its brooding brick homes and the sight of the looming mill tower just blocks away. And yet, something about the hideous town and the hideous cars parked outside, and the hideous, dull landscape of dying grass in the distance, something felt…better._

_"Come now, Severus," the Anima insisted as her head poked through the door frame._

_He had forgotten she was still there. He had forgotten he was just dreaming._

_So he followed her, down the stairs and into the backyard area and his breath felt like it was grabbed from his throat as he looked at the scene. This is what the yard used to look like…covered with a little bit of scattered grass and some flowers in the yard and a small, rusty table with a couple of equally rusty chairs. That was all they needed…_

_In front of him sat his mother…his mother when she was so much younger, sitting with her dress draped over her legs and pulling a loose tendril of hair out of her face from the warm, summer breeze. Next to her sat Tobias, a hat on his head shading his face from the sun's rays. And he was actually smiling. _

_In front of them both was himself. Himself as a bloody four-year-old, looking terribly disgruntled. It was safe to say that nothing much has changed from his countenance._

_"Come on now. What is this one called?" _

_And it was his mother. Not his mother in a body bag or looking worn out and devastated. His mother how he remembered her before, holding up a white flower between her fingers._

_"No!" he saw himself say. _

_"It's obvious he doesn't want to talk about anymore bloody flowers, Eileen," Tobias sighed. "Can we just listen to the end of the football match?"_

_"I'm not doing any harm!" Eileen insisted, twirling the flower between her fingers before turning towards her son once more. "Come on, Severus. You were being such a good boy earlier."_

_"No more bloody flowers!" he insisted. "No more! No more! No more!"_

_"Alright already!" Eileen sighed. _

_"You don't want to name flowers, do you, Sevvie?" Tobias said as he picked up his son and placed him into his lap. "You just want to listen to Manchester kick Yorkshire's arse at the match, don't you?"_

_"Language, Tob!" Eileen said over her young son's giggles and squirms._

_"Oh shut it," Tobias grinned, promptly smoothed out Severus's hair, and kissed Eileen on the cheek. "Who are you rootin' for?"_

_"Yorkshire," Eileen said hesitantly._

_"BAH! And you, Sevvie?" Tobias asked. "Who d'you want ta win?"_

_"No more bloody flowers! No more bloody flowers! No more bloody flowers!"_

_"See, look what you've done!" Eileen said teasingly. "Now he's going to say that all day long!"_

_"H'speaks his mind," Tobias said proudly. "Nothin' ever wrong wi'that."_

_"This is disgusting," Severus hissed at the Anima. "Why are you forcing me to see this? Why, why, why?"_

_"Even as a teenager you still have a tendency to repeat yourself don't you?" the Anima observed. _

_"Answer my question," Severus growled._

_"Well," the Anima sighed, sitting on the nearby chair. It was filthy, but she didn't seem to mind. He was actually surprised that she was sitting. She seemed so light that it felt as though she would fall right through the dirty plastic chair. "For one, I thought it would be important for you to remember a side of your father that wasn't so—"_

_"—Cruel? Moronic? Drunk?—"_

_"—That wasn't so harsh."_

_"That's a nice way of putting it," Severus snorted. "What do you call him slapping my mum across the face when I was twelve? The bastard started treating Mother like shite the minute she told him the truth and what does she get? Bruises."_

_"Severus, your father didn't just behave that way when she told him that you and she were magical," the Anima said quietly._

_"Of course he did," Severus. "That's something that I **do** remember!"_

_"Severus, you must understand that their marriage was going downhill before that moment," the Anima said firmly._

_"What are you talking about?" Severus asked._

_"You'll see soon enough. And the second reason as to why I brought you here was because I thought you'd like to see your mother again…in happier times," the Anima said softly, ignoring his last comment. "I thought you'd appreciate it."_

_"Won't I see my mum again during your next little adventure?" Severus asked._

_"Yes, you will," the Anima said. "But she won't be happy."_

_"Why not? Why can't I see a memory from a year later? Or two years later? Or—"_

_"Because that isn't what I have planned," the Anima said._

_Severus felt like pulling out his hair. "You are absolutely infuriating! Not what you had **planned?"**_

_"I know how this journey will progress, so I'd greatly appreciate it if you would trust me," the Anima said firmly. "You should feel lucky you're even seeing your mother again, Severus."_

_He wanted to argue with her, tell her that no, he didn't appreciate any of this. Any of her disruptions of his dreams. _

_But…he looked at his mother again…and took in the delicate smile lines across her cheeks and her thick brows lifting as she now held Severus's younger self in her arms and put a flower in his hair._

_"Christ, he's not a ruddy **girl,** Eileen," Tobias said, plucking the flower out of his son's hair and tossing it over his shoulder. "He's a man, aren't you, Sevvie?"_

_"No more bloody flowers!"_

_"Exactly!" Tobias grunted._

_"Too much testosterone here, I reckon," Eileen sighed and took hold of another nearby flower. "No more bloody flowers, eh?"_

_Severus shook his head._

_"Well, what about NOW?_" _And she pulled his shirt up and tickled his belly with the flower's head and Severus began to laugh and shriek like crazy. He fell to the grass and began to kick and squirm as his mother didn't let up on her tickling frenzy. _

_"You're goin' to kill the boy, Eileen!" Tobias said, moving closer to the radio and pulling it up to his ear._

_"Nonsense!" Eileen laughed, and stopped the laugh-inducing assault upon her son. She still held the flower's stem between her long, bony fingers as she lay next to him on her elbow, her head on her open palm. _

_"Now," she continued quietly, holding the flower up to Severus' face. "What is this one called?"_

_Severus snatched the flower from between her fingers and looked at it with furrowed brows of concentration. He felt the petals and opened his mouth._

_"Well, what is it?" Eileen said. "You know this one."_

_"This!" Severus said triumphantly. "Is a lily!"_

_"Good job, sweetheart!" Eileen grinned and hugged him. "Why is it a lily?"_

_"Because 'swhite. Wif the little yellow thingies!" Severus said as though it were quite obvious._

_"Well done!" Eileen said, placing him on her lap once more, smoothing out his hair with a small smile on her face; the usual sullen expression completely nonexistent when he was near her. As the memory progressed, Severus vaguely remembered that day, though prior to the dream his only recollection was of flowers and the warm, wet feel of a late summer afternoon. Tobias was still listening and talking intently to the radio as though it were his best mate. Present day Severus watched his younger self idly look at and touch the petals while humming a tune to himself._

_His mother kissed the top of his head gently and he heard her whisper, ever so quietly, "It's a **beautiful** flower, isn't it?"_

_"Yes," Severus said seriously._

_"It's a ruddy **flower,"** Tobias said with a derisive snort. "Why care about flowers when you can care about football?"_

_"And what is your point?" Eileen asked. "Flowers are important."_

_"Why?" Severus asked, looking up at his mother suddenly._

_"Well," Eileen sighed. "They just are."_

_"I like this flower, Mummy," Severus said as he pulled several pieces of grass out of the ground with little, stringy dirt clots along the ends. _

_"Do you really? More than all the others?" Eileen said, trying to hold back laughter._

_"Yes," Severus concluded. "No more bloody flowers!"_

_As Severus ripped the petals from the flower and put them into neat piles, Eileen laughed and kissed the top of his head again._

_"Get me out of here," Severus told the Anima quietly. _

_"Calm down. I'm sure this is bringing up some tough emotional distress but I thought you'd—"_

_"Thought I'd what, huh?"_

_"Appreciate it."_

_"Appreciate it? You thought I'd appreciate seeing my worthless blood-traitor mother again?" Severus yelled as he walked back into the house, attempting to kick a nearby chair but, must to his disappointment, his leg went right through it. "You know what? I say good riddance she died! Good fucking riddance. She was hardly a mother to begin with!"_

_He had no idea why he said it, but the words seemed to just fall from his lips and he couldn't see to stop it. _

_He knew he wasn't serious…he couldn't have been._

_Or maybe he really did resent his mother to that degree. Maybe he was ashamed of him to the point of being thankful she was gone._

_Severus Snape obviously didn't know _what_ to think anymore._

_"I want to wake up," Severus said. The Anima opened her mouth to protest but was immediately cut off. "NOW."_

_"We will meet ag—"_

_"Yes, yes, yes, we'll meet again and all that bollocks. Just wake me the—"_

"—Fuck up!"

Severus immediately opened his eyes to see a faint, dark blue light shine through the opened bits of his curtains.

_"YOU_ SHUT THE FUCK UP, MATE!" Demetrius grumbled from his bed. "Wanker."

Embarrassed, confused, and with a sore throat, Severus turned over on his side with his eyes open, not wanting to risk seeing anymore memories that night.

**XXX**

"Look at him," James said snidely. "He's _really_ taking advantage of their current position isn't he?"

James Potter's gaze was fixed on none other than Lily and Alexander strolling out of the Great Hall, hand in hand and looking cheery to a nearly nauseous state. As he watched the new couple exit the grand room, James decided it was an appropriate time to stab his chicken with his fork.

It was incredibly unsatisfying. As was the result of James stabbing Peter's bread.

"Wouldn't you?" Remus asked as he cautiously moved his plate further away from James's reach.

"Sure…but…" He wracked his brain for excuses. "How long has she known him? SERIOUSLY? About two days now? His hands are all over her. The poor girl is going to get a fucking rash."

"Shut. Up," Sirius grunted into his shepherd's pie.

"I bet he has some sort of …sex disease. From his mum, no doubt. He's Welsh, isn't he? Maybe he's been having a go with some sheep!"

Sirius sighed. "I can hardly eat this anymore with Jacobson's monster, STD, sheep-ridden cock on my mind. And that was a particularly good sheherd's pie you ruined. How do you feel, huh? Pretty proud, don't you?"

"Heh, sheep? Shepherd's pie? Get it?" Peter chimed in.

"Yes," Remus said.

James Potter could care less about Sirius's pie or the chorus of girls behind him who he, as usual, heard sigh whenever Sirius as much as opened his mouth. He was absolutely livid. And hell, he wasn't afraid to admit it: he was jealous. Jealous to the point of considering making a dartboard of Alexander Jacobson's face for target practice.

"I say you apologise," Remus suggested as they made their way up to the Gryffindor tower. "She's a forgiving girl."

James and Sirius gave Remus a look.

"Won't hurt to try?"

"Apologise? But what if she doesn't—what are _you_ looking at?—accept it," James said, briefly telling off a first-year whose gaze lingered on him much too long for James's liking. "What if she laughs…or hexes me…or…or what if she explodes or something?"

"She won't explode," Remus said. "Unless you give her another skimpy piece of clothing or something equally degrading."

"Guess you'll have to keep my hands away from Wormtail's underwear drawer, eh?" Sirius said as his tongue probed a piece of food stuck between his teeth. "You know him: loves all things lacy and frilly and feminine."

"What?" Peter frowned.

"Don't 'what' me," Sirius countered. "First step: denial. Second step: underwear drawer inspection."

"Stop flirting with each other and hurry up!" James said, leading the pack up to the dormitory. As he said the password and entered the portrait hall, the familiar scent of the Gryffindor common room reached his nostrils. It wasn't something that noticeable if one didn't pay attention, but James always savoured the distinct smell of it: firewood mixed with the faint smell of ink and candy the students would always seem to have at handy.

It was a nice smell. Much better than the smell of the Quidditch locker rooms, that was for sure, or the smell of cheap, heavy perfume reeking from a group of third-year girls sitting at a large table covered in books. They suddenly started to whisper and look up every couple of seconds at (who other than) Sirius Black. One blonde girl lightly nudged her brown-haired companion, who giggled and blushed, still glancing at Sirius.

"What's their problem?" Sirius asked in a would-be careless manner, but James knew he liked the attention he received by the girls.

"Dragon pox," Remus said with a small chuckle. "I hear it causes delirium."

"Yeah, probably," Sirius laughed, and winked at the table of chattering girls, who, in turn, squealed quietly to one another and soon began arguing over who exactly the grey-eyed sixth-year had winked at.

"I think that counts as paedophilia," Peter warned.

"You would know, wouldn't you? Think nobody else has noticed Filch's liking for you?" Sirius asked.

Peter gulped and suddenly looked rather green.

James turned his attention away from the girls to see Lily quietly sitting in a lush red-velvet armchair, which she seemed to have moved away slightly from the herd; away from Alexander for once that week. She was smiling slightly at an article she seemed to be reading in _Teen Witch Weekly_.

"Well, I've got a date with Wormtail's pants drawer," Sirius said, and ran up the stairs to the boys dormitory, with Peter struggling to catch up behind him.

"So she won't explode?" James asked Remus, who seemed to decide that he didn't feel like running up several flights of stairs at the moment.

"Probably not, but I'll stand guard just in case," Remus said.

"Just a second," James said, pushing his glasses onto the bridge of his nose, and walking over to Lily. A few students glanced at the Quidditch player's stance of determination as he quickly strode towards her.

"Ahem."

Lily looked up, her pleasant look quickly darkening into a slight frown as she pulled a strand of hair away from her face.

"Potter."

"Evening, Evans," he said, hoping to sound more confident than he really felt. It was amazing how bloody nervous she made him feel sometimes. He often felt on top of the world, as though no wrong could occur as he shamelessly chatted up the redhead…but it was times like this when she looked like she was searching for the closest exits that he felt his throat choke up and his heart flutter more than it usually does when in her presence.

"Well, what do you want?" Evans asked sharply.

"Just to talk…" James said breezily, trying to give her a relaxed smile as his hands were becoming shallow puddles of sweat. "May I sit?"

"I'm guessing that if I said no you'd still insist," Lily sighed and waved her hand unenthusiastically towards the nearest arm chair. James summoned it over, straightened out his robes, and loosened his tie. Running his hand through his hair so it stood up even more on end, James heaved a large sigh.

"So…how was your Christmas?"

"It was good for the most part," Lily said, ignoring mentioning his gift. "Good lot. Got some records and books and some money for clothes and such."

"And the rest of your hols?" James asked.

"Nice, yours?" Lily said, looking back at her magazine.

"Amazing," James said with a grin.

"Listen, I know that you popped by to do more than just talk about what I found under my Christmas tree," Lily snapped. "Just say what you wanted to say already."

James looked away from her face, not wanting to see how frustrated she looked. So his eyes settled for her legs, which she slowly crossed, causing her skirt to lift a bit at the hem.

"Stop staring at my knees," Lily demanded.

James elevated his gaze.

_"Or my chest."_

He finally looked at her face, specifically the third freckle to the left of her right left eyebrow. She had lovely eyebrows.

"Look," James said. "I know you're probably still angry at me for—"

"Damn straight I'm angry," Lily snapped with a huff and furiously flipped the thin pages of the magazine. This week's cover featured two teens wearing stylish new formal robes, who appeared alarmed by the vigorous shaking of the periodical. "It was embarrassing!"

"Was it the colour?" James asked, remembering what Sirius said about the hot pink clashing with Lily's hair.

Lily lifted a deep red eyebrow. "The _colour?_ You think I was angry about the _colour?"_

"Nevermind," James said quickly, suddenly assuming that the colour was the least of her issues with the gift. Alarmed, James glanced at Remus, who seemed to be aware of Lily's escalating rage. However, James found it incredibly unhelpful when Remus began to wave his arms around in different directions to try help out the Chaser.

James had absolutely no idea what the hell Remus meant by imitating rabid poultry.

"Look, Evans. Remus said that an apology should be in order so…I'm sorry. I never meant to upset you. Truly."

_"Remus said?"_ Lily asked, disbelief and, James could have sworn, disappointment flashed across her face. _"Remus _had to be the one to knock some sense into you?"

_Oops_.

"I didn't…I mean, I thought about apologising too, but Remus—"

James glanced at Remus once more, to see the werewolf distracted by a little girl asking for help of some sort with her homework.

Lily sighed and lowered her eyes to her lap. "You know, I'd love it if it was _you_ who thought it would be wise to apologise," she said quietly.

"I'm sorry," James gulped. "Really, I swear I am."

Lily's eyes rose towards his as she shook her head miserably.

"When aren't you, Potter?"

James felt his insides grow cold as the two Gryffindors stared at each other for several seconds, neither saying a word but just staring each other down, waiting to see who makes the first move; who would speak first; who would be bold enough to continue the steadily deteriorating conversation.

"How are you and Jacobson?"

He was first, it seemed.

"Great. He's really sweet," Lily said with a small smile, sighing as though abruptly lost in her thoughts.

James thought he was going to be sick.

"…Good. That's…that's good," James lied.

"He's really nice to be around," Lily said faintly.

"Better than Collins?" James asked.

Lily looked surprised by the sudden mention of a former boyfriend of hers who was now a seventh-year Hufflepuff. The relationship hardly lasted more than a couple of weeks and the two were hardly seen doing anything together. It was hardly what one would call a real relationship.

"That was nothing compared to this," Lily said, glancing between him and the magazine in her soft hands; her chipped nail polish covered fingernail kept flicking the paper and she almost looked…nervous. "But I'm surprised you even remembered I went out with Cavan."

"Of course I remembered," James snorted, crossing his arms across his chest and looking away from her. "You two were horrible for each other."

"I don't believe you should be the judge of that," Lily chided.

"Well I don't see you and Collins holding hands down the corridors, do I? To be honest, I don't think you and Jacobson are very good together, either," James said, trying to look her straight in the eye now.

"Potter," Lily warned, her patience waning.

"I'm just telling you what I think," James said. "Last time I checked that wasn't a crime."

"And who do you think I should be with?" Lily challenged.

_Is she serious?_

"Me."

Lily looked away before beginning to gather her belongings

"Wait! Where are you going?" James asked hastily, standing up and in the process and nearly tipping the armchair over.

She refused to look at him. "As usual, Potter, all you care about is yourself!"

"That's not true!"

"Oh, shut up! You don't care about me at all," Lily cried.

"Are you mad, woman?" James exclaimed, bringing attention to himself. "Of course I do or else I wouldn't tell you that you and Jacobson are horrible together!"

"You big, slimy whelk!" Lily snarled, finishing gathering her belongings and pointing in his face. "You're too caught up in your own bloody pride to even tell or care that I'm happy with Alexander!"

"Don't be stupid, Evans," James said with a smile. "I'm happy that you're happy!"

She huffed and looked at him with a hint of scepticism.

"Yep," James continued. "Even if you are with a fucking prat, I support it."With a loud growl, Lily pushed the obstructing boy away from her using her magazine and books as a helping force and stormed her way up the stairs to the girls' section of the dormitories.

"Evans..." James called after her, attracting quite an audience in the common room. "Evans! EVANS! Come on now!"

She didn't turn back towards him and instead walked even faster up the stairs.

"You could have been a little nicer, you know."

James spun around to see a first-year he didn't recognise looking up at him brazenly.

"Pardon?"

The girl's friends all looked at her with bulging eyes and knowing stares, understanding that her going up against a popular student like James Potter wasn't just brave…but horribly stupid as well.

"You should have been nicer to her," she sniffed. "She doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong, you know."

Her friends continued to hiss at her to stop, but the thin, round-cheeked, brown-eyed girl with long, braided pigtails seemed to be on a roll. The corners of her mouth seemed to be in a permanent, triumphant looking smirk.

James bent over and rested his shoulders against the large oak table and stared the brazen girl straight in the eye. "Who _are_ you?"

"Camilla Jenkins," she said with her long, pointy nose in the air. "And you are…?"

"James Potter," James grunted. "The bloke that will make your first year your worst nightmare if you ever—"

"You have funny hair," Camilla giggled.

James immediately began to run his hand through his hair angrily. His hair was NOT funny. It was charming, exciting, and gorgeously unkempt and…how _dare_ she insult his hair?

"Your hair is pretty fucking funny-looking too!" James spat back.

"No, it's not," Camilla said very matter-of-factly. "Yours is so…up! It's like you've been electrocuted or something!"

"Why you little!" James started as he made to grab his wand from his pocket when he was halted by…

"James…"

"Moony, don't get involved. This is my battle and mine alone!" James said fiercely, staring at the girl with his teeth bared.

"She's a little girl!" Remus insisted.

"But…but…" James whined. "She said I looked like I was eletromacuted!"

"No, I said you hair looked like it was _electrocuted_," the girl corrected.

"See? She did it again!" James waved his hand at her. "You little snot-nosed first-year better—"

James wasn't able to finish his statement on account of the fact that he was being hastily dragged away by Remus…by his hair.

"OW! OI, DON'T THINK I WON'T FIND YOU AGAIN, CAMILLA JENKINS. I'VE GOT _MY EYES_ ON YOU! MARK MY WORDS! YOU WON'T SEE THE LAST OF—"

Before he knew it, Remus stumbled over a nearby transfiguration book, causing both boys to stumble to the ground atop each other.

"'Lo, Moony," James said, ignoring the loud chuckling across the common room. "How goes it down there."

"Hard."

"WHAT?"

"Hard because there is a bloody book stuck in my back," Remus grunted, straining to reach his arm behind himself and rid his back of the painful, leather bound book.

"Oh, I thought you meant—"

"I know what you meant."

"Okay."

"Wait, what is that I feel on my waist?"

"Erm, my wand?"

"Oh."

"Wait, no, my wand is in my back pocket."

"Oh…_oh_. Wow."

"This is number fifty-four on 'the things to never mention again' list. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

**XXX**

Severus woke up that Sunday morning, feeling refreshed and calm, to an eerily quiet dormitory. He sat himself up fully in the bed and looked around only to find the deep emerald hangings around him as usual, as well as a book he had read late into the night at his side.

"Strange," Severus whispered and pulled back his hangings only to be bombarded with the sight of Evan and Demetrius charging at him with a bucket.

A bucket of extremely cold water.

"Happy birthday," Evan chuckled as the birthday boy was hit with an incredible shock. "We're making this a new tradition, I reckon."

"Thanks," Severus said stiffly with a furious shiver and grabbed his wand to quickly dry himself off.

He soon made his way down to breakfast alone, with an odd spring to his step despite the rude awakening as he walked through the dungeons. His good mood slowly declined, however, as he made his way into the Great Hall and noticed that it was another cold, dreary day. The curse of a winter birthday, he always thought.

As he sat at his table, he quickly thanked the couple of students who happened to remember his birthday (Narcissa and Regulus) and tucked into an especially hearty Sunday morning English breakfast.

"So, how does it feel, mate?" Regulus asked.

"No different," Severus said. "It never does until you get really old, I'm guessing."

"Say," Regulus said in a lower tone. "Meet me behind the Quidditch shack later, yeah? After dinner."

"Sure," Severus said slowly, wondering what Regulus could want at that time.

On schedule, the morning owls swooped in with a flurry of wings and feathers and the occasional squawk. They dropped hundreds of copies of the _Sunday Prophet_, as well as care packages and letters from various senders. Severus's keen eye even spotted a bright red letter headed towards an apprehensive Gryffindor. But he was incredibly surprised, however, when he spotted two owls approaching…_him_. One owl was one thing, but _two?_ That surely had to be a record…well…second place record if one counted the time in which the Marauders decided it would be humorous to sent several owls with stupid letters to him over the span of a good eight hours in his fourth year.

First came a large spotted owl with a very small, rolled up piece of parchment and right on his tail came a large, regal black owl with a disposition of utmost importance. And with this importance came the desire to brush the smaller, lighter owl out of its way as Severus was about to untie the letter from its foot. He sighed and, not wanting to hurt the owl, moved his attention to the barn owl. He quickly reached out to grab the larger parcel when the spotted owl pushed its new enemy back, accidentally scratching Severus's finger in the process.

"Bloody birds!" Severus growled as he continued to try to grab the parcel again, only to be pecked by the black owl. "Dammit!"

Suddenly, all hell broke loose as the two owls began to…well…duke it out.

"Cool, owl fight!" yelped a hyper Slytherin boy, summoning his friends over to watch.

"Piss off!" Severus muttered and quickly stunned the birds and plucking the mail from their talons.

"What a _horrible_ thing to do!" exclaimed a curly-haired girl several seats down. "That's _clearly_ owl abuse! I should report you to Professor Slughorn!"

Severus rolled his eyes. "There is nothing in the school rules against stunning misbehaving animals," he said, consciously grabbing the fabric of his robes and making sure she got a good look at his prefect badge (which lacked proper polishing or shine…compared to Narcissa's, which would surely _blind_ any passer-by in the right lighting). "But if you'd like to dispute that with Professor Slughorn, be my guest. I won't hesitate to inform him of your insolence and distrust in your superiors. How's that sound?"

He had to admit, he felt awfully proud of himself to really put his prefect title into good use. The girl quickly shut her mouth and tucked into her plate of food, whispering to her friend sitting next to her.

"Ah, now I see why you're so popular, Severus," Narcissa said as she took a delicate bite into her bread. "Happy birthday, by the way. I'm sure you'll be pleased with the larger parcel."

"Is it from you?" Severus asked with surprise. Neither of them felt it necessary to exchange gifts on one's birthday.

"Oh, no!" Narcissa said, looking slightly embarrassed. "You'll see. But who is the smaller one from?"

Severus looked down at the much smaller envelope and with a rush of excitement noticed his name in very familiar handwriting.

"Must be from that book shop in Hogsmeade. I owled them about whether or not they had that new book from that…man," he lied. "I'm going to go back to the dorms though."

He started to stand when Narcissa stood up with him. "I'm quite finished myself. I'll go with you."

The two made their way out of the Great Hall together in near silence until it was broken by the blonde. "We hardly talk anymore."

"We never talked that much to begin with."

"Maybe we should start."

"Maybe."

"How was your holiday?"

"Shite; yours?"

"Actually…not as good as I would have liked," Narcissa sighed and wrapped her fingers around a strand of her shiny blonde tresses.

"Oh?"

"Yes, you see," Narcissa said quietly, "I sort of expected Lucius to propose."

"Propose?" Severus asked, nearly chuckling. "You're sixteen."

"And?" Narcissa frowned.

It was sometimes a shock when he truly thought about how early some pure-blood families married and had children. He remembered being amazingly grossed out when Regulus told him that his great-grandparents were married and had their first child at the age of _thirteen_.

"Well, what made you think he would?" Severus asked.

"He's been talking to my father quite a lot," Narcissa said excitedly as they entered the portrait hole. "I hoped it was to get a blessing! But then…nothing. All he gave me for Christmas was a dozen or so gifts…amongst other things."

Severus noticed a dainty blush creep along Narcissa's porcelain skin and a dreamy yet sultry smile appear on her face.

"Please, go into detail with Reina and Amelia. I don't want to hear about your personal moments with Lucius Malfoy," Severus groaned.

"Severus!" Narcissa squealed. This was quite odd since Narcissa never _squeals_. "I'm actually going to go meet up with Reina for some help in History of Magic so I must get ready. I'll see you later."

"Bye," Severus said, watching her walk down to the girls' dormitory.

She waved goodbye and as she quickly disappeared from his sight. Trying desperately to get the image of Narcissa and Lucius's tangled limbs and lots of blond hair from his head, he walked briskly up to his room, which he was pleased to find empty.

He shrugged off his robes and pulled off his shoes and socks as he lay in bed, curtains closed, and looked at his two pieces of mail. He decided to open the one clearly from Lily Evans first; the curiosity gnawing and clawing inside of him as he ripped the letter open and nearly tore the little parchment note in half:

_Meet me in the usual place at 3.00. I've got something you may want to see._

_Love, Lily_

He felt slightly disappointed, but soon even more confused as to what he was even expecting from that envelope. With a sigh he picked up the next small parcel and lazily looked at the underside only to find…

"Merlin."

It was, in fact, a parcel from Lucius. Severus eagerly ripped apart the brown wrapping and his eyes fell upon a letter and what appeared to be a book of some sort.

His fingers promptly ripped open the prestigious looking wax seal and pulled out a sheet of, his eyes pouring over the neat words of cursive ink…

_Severus,_

_It's been long since I last made contact with you, I know, but things have been exceedingly busy. I thought today would be an ideal day to write, since, if I'm correct, today is your seventeenth birthday. Congratulations, Severus._

_However, I've written also because, at this stage of your school career, you should be interested in what you would like to do after your Hogwarts days end. I cannot say much in this letter in case this is intercepted, but perhaps you may want to consider a more unconventional career. Of course, you'd still be putting your skills (when we last spoke you were still interested in Defence and Potions) to good use. I'm sure I won't have to reveal much in this letter for you to know what I am ultimately implying. You have time, of course, to think about this but not much and I hope you consider making the right one. _

_I must go to an important meeting this moment, but along with this letter is a book I'm sure you'll find fascinating. It's titled The Burden of the Superior by Anslem Owston, a man I had the pleasure of being introduced to a few months back. He is one of the most intelligent and passionate men I've met in a very long time._

_Oh, and when the Blacks dropped by during their winter hols, Regulus seemed eager to show me a section of the obituaries in which your mother was mentioned. I'm sorry for your loss, but she is of ill conversation amongst many proud pure-bloods. According to my father, her marriage was actually one of great upset amongst many families. _

_Nevertheless, have an enjoyable birthday, and read the book right away!_

_L.M._

Severus could honestly say that he had never read a letter that sent him through such a range of emotions in under 300 words.

He showed up ten minutes early. He wasn't quite sure why, but as he sat in the room that was now dubbed 'the usual place', something within him stirred.

Part of him wanted it to end. These weekly study sessions had morphed and altered and caused a series of events that wouldn't have happened if he had just kept quiet. He was good at not talking to people so why on Earth should Lily Evans change that? If it hadn't been for these damned get-togethers…or…or Slughorn was to blame as well! If he hadn't invited his mother that day and hadn't introduced Evans to… Or if his mother didn't…if she didn't know the Evanses…

And then he realised (with extreme frustration), that even if they didn't get together on Thursdays…nothing he could have done would have prevented Slughorn from introducing Lily to his mother. And he couldn't help it that…his mother died or the fact that she somehow…God knows how…knew Lily's mother.

Maybe the meet-ups weren't the problem. The problem was fate. He just couldn't get away from her no matter what happened. It was as though their lives were suddenly, somehow, forever intertwined. It was maddening!

As if right on cue, Lily Evans walked in, two braids bouncing along her shoulders.

"Hello," Lily said cheerily as she clutched two items against her chest. "I suppose I'll cut to the chase. Y'know that photo my dad took of us on New Year's Eve?" Severus nodded. "Well, Dad just sent me the photo yesterday by owl. He is surprisingly fond of owling."

She handed him the photo and watched his reaction

"I think I look like shite," Lily said warm-heartedly, pointing to herself in the photo. "Look at that smile!"

He took a look for himself and had no idea what the hell she was talking about. The Lily Evans he looked at in the photo looked…perfect. White teeth shining and her green eyes were noticeable under half-lidded yet energetic eyes. He, on the other hand, looked rather awkward: not smiling, yet not frowning. Instead, he looked incredibly awkward and nervous.

"You don't look that bad," Lily said slowly. "A bit tired though."

He nodded and gave the photo back to her, idly scratching the back of his neck.

"You look a bit sick," Lily pointed out with worried eyes as she looked at him.

Maybe it was _her_ that was making him sick.

"Have you eaten yet today?" Lily asked with a hint of concern.

Why was he trying to ignore her questions?

"It's just that, you look really pale—"

What?

"Are you trying to be funny?" he snapped.

"Why would you think something like that?" Lily pondered as she tugged on her lower lip with her teeth.

"I always look pale," Severus stated.

Lily opened and closed her mouth rapidly before sputtering, "W-well yes…you are a bit on the pale side but…you really do look like you need some sleep or something."

Glancing up at her, he could see her eyes staring at the developing dark circles under his own. He knew they were deeper and darker than usual. But why must she always care?

"My sleeping schedule is none of your business."

"Are you having trouble sleeping?"

Yes.

"No."

"Is it…is it your mum? Are you having problems dealing with her d—?"

"DO YOU EVER SHUT UP?" Severus shouted, slamming his fist on the table, knocking over an ink well he remembered leaving in the room over the holidays, and caused it to spill all over his long-sleeved white shirt. "Fuck."

He quickly pulled out his wand and placed a bleaching charm on the cloth.

Lily blinked. "I'm…sorry. It's clear that I struck a nerve—"

"The only thing that is _clear,_ Evans—"

"—Lily!—"

"The only thing that is clear, _Lily,_ is that you're quite possibly the most annoying girl I've ever had the misfortune to know. Why can't you just worry about yourself for once? Stop with the selfless act and realize that you don't have to save everyone."

"Well somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!" Lily retorted as she boldly stepped closer to him.

"Witty, Evans," Severus scoffed derisively. "Real witty."

"I—I can understand why you're upset, but you have no right to take it all out on other people!" Lily said. "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better about…anything? Anything at all?"

"Yes," Severus said. "You'd do me a favour if you'd leave this fucking room and pretend you don't care."

"But how can I just—"

"Try, Lily. Try _really_ hard."

Lily stared at him hard for a moment. She had an incredible ability, Lily Evans did. With just one look, she could make you feel on top of the world or as though you were the most horrible, pathetic waste of a human being on the planet.

He certainly didn't feel like the former.

"Fine, I'll go," Lily whispered, gathering the few belongings that made their way out of her heavily decorated satchel and spun around, robes billowing slightly near the ankles, and headed towards the door. Her hand grasped the heavy, cold metal handle which resembled the shape of a crude snake. He noticed her stare at it for several seconds before she turned her head towards him. "But you know I can't do that…right, Severus?"

"Maybe you should consider it," Severus told her.

Lily smiled. "No."

She then handed him the other item which had rested in her hands during their fight. The slim package had a short piece of green ribbon wrapped around the slightly yellowing envelope and his name in her handwriting, written neatly with a Muggle ink pen. Lily looked at her handiwork fondly before dropping it to the ground with an anti-climactic plop. "It's nothing you haven't seen before, but…happy birthday, Severus."

He walked over to pick up the envelope and straightened himself upwards again, opening his mouth to speak, when he noticed the door closing shut in front of his face.

Severus untied the ribbon and hastily opened the envelope to find the same photo, with a short note on the back:

_Dear Severus,_

_Happy birthday! I'm sorry I was unable to get you an original gift, but here is the photo my dad took of us that night you came round. I'm still convinced that I look like shite, personally, but my dad developed a copy and told me I should give you the other. You can throw it out if you really want to. I don't really mind. _

_With love,_

_Lily Evans_

He turned the photo over again to see the words "December 31, 1976" in Lily's handwriting in thick black ink lurking in right hand corner. He then gently put the photo back into the envelope and blankly looked at it and the now limp green ribbon…and upon looking at it closely, he could smell the slight aroma of sweet wine, freshness, and something else equally intoxicating he couldn't put his finger on.

And he was suddenly disturbed by the fact that he found himself enjoying that smell.

Enjoying it a lot.

Too much.

"Oh, Christ."

Crisp, melting snow crunched as he as he trudged his way to the Quidditch shed that evening, wearing a couple of extra layers of clothing. The sun was almost out of sight from beyond the sloppy hilltops and mountains. And there Regulus was, right where he said he'd be, standing with his back against the shed wall.

"Regulus," Severus said, startling the younger boy slightly.

"You nearly scared the fucking day lights out of me," Regulus said, taking something out of the inner pocket of a post, warm robe. Severus recognized it as a box of cigarettes.

"Fag?" Regulus offered, popping a slender white stick in-between his lips and holding another out towards Severus.

He plucked the cigarette from between his fingers, and quickly lit it with his wand, inhaling deeply. He wondered where _that_ bold move came from and tried to conceal a light cough.

Regulus did the same and exhaled in a long thin line.

"Since when do you smoke?" Severus asked as he took another long drag.

"Since Sirius left," Regulus replied. "He left his pack of fags…"

"Well aren't you just Mister Maturity," Severus muttered and nearly laughed at their current situation: two Slytherin boys, completely different from one another, _smoking _together. Since when could they even get away with this?

Everything has been so bizarre as of late.

"And you? This hardly looks like this is your first time," Regulus scoffed.

"'S not," Severus said.

"Hm," Regulus said as he flicked the ashes into the snow.

"So what did you need to discuss?" Severus asked, attempting to cut to the chase.

"Nothing!" Regulus chuckled. "Nothing at fucking all!"

There was the beautiful sort of silence and connectedness that one only experience every once in a while whilst amongst people and at a place that made you feel like there was a reason why they were there. Why he were wearing those old boots that are nearly too small for him and why he is too poor to buy another. And why the younger boy next to him was oddly the best company he'd had in what felt like ages. A reason for why you were born when you were, knew the people you knew, had the face you did, and the smile you let slip past the corners of your lips in rare moments. He, for a few moments as he stood there against that old shed smoking his anxiety away and talking about very little and nothing in particular; and almost felt happy.

And he knew it wouldn't last long. He knew that the second he stepped into that castle that the spell would be gone. But he thought he'd savour the rare moment with the boy one year his junior.

Maybe that was what every male on the birthday in which they became an adult

"Oh, Merlin! I think I found a chest hair last week!" Regulus exclaimed with a loopy smile. "It looks impressive I think. Rachel didn't notice though…"

Regulus seemed to now have a strange aptitude for ruining epiphanies.

"Did you manage to meet your goal?" Severus sighed.

"Well, while we were…you know…revving up…"

"Please don't use that word."

"Well we were sort of…starting when her little sister barged in yelling something about her doll."

"That's disgusting."

"Not as bad as when her parents walked in soon after…"

"You can stop now."

"Okay."

* * *

**A/N EDIT 3/8/07: **Remember to Read and Review, guys! I really appreciate your feedback, as always. And I hope you are all enjoying the recent Harry Potter news (although I AM pretty upset with some of the movie spoilers). 


	20. Lily in Love

**A/N: **I know, I know, it's been nearly five months since I last updated this thing but, believe me, I haven't even considered for a MOMENT about abandoning this thing. I'm finishing up this thing no matter how long it takes and after this chapter the story really starts to speed up a bit. Anyway, my lack of update has been due to school (I just finished up my junior year of high school guys. Cut me a little slack!) as well as the fact that my beta has gone M.I.A. D: So this chapter may not be 100 typo proof and the flow may be a little off (I edited this from 2-4 am so yeah).

In other news, I'm having an incredibly HP-fied summer. I went to a local Pottercast event here in Los Angeles and saw Harry and the Potters afterwards and got some photos/autographs/merch. THEN the next week or so (last week) I stayed out for hours in the blazing Hollywood sun to view the red carpet of the OotP premiere and got Emma autograph and spent a good amount of time yelling at Rupert and Dan. The next day I also waited outside in Hollywood for a few hours to view the Hand/Foot/Wand ceremony that Emma, Rupert, and Dan participated in and I got all their autographs (yes, Emma's again), I briefly talked to Daniel Radcliffe, AND I GOT A HUG FROM RUPERT GRINT :D Ahem, all this info goes into detail at my LJ (linked at my profile). Oh, and I thought the OotP was great; best one yet (but I wished SWM was in there!).

Anyway, the series is coming to a close but this story will not. DH won't destroy the idea that has been in my head for nearly 2 years now and though it may alter the storyline a WEE bit, I doubt it'll change it that much. I just hope all my faithful readers keep up with my story as well. No matter what happens, I'll always so greatly appreciate you guys (especially the lot who have been reading this story since it's incredibly awkward stages to now since the idea of this story came to me after HBP). So yes, enough of my babbling! Onto the story! Hurrah for chapter 20!

* * *

_**X Lily in Love**_

Sundays were never quite the same. They didn't have the lethargic feeling of Monday or the exciting, restless nerves Friday or Saturday did. At home, before she even believed in witchcraft or attended Hogwarts, Sundays were so lazy with a beautiful, comforting sort of haze around her home; especially if the day were sunny and light filtering through the windows and making shadows and highlights against the wallpaper and ceiling.

Things were entirely different at Hogwarts. Sunlight bounced off stone and drapery and magnificent works of art…not wallpaper and framed photographs or messy kitchen counters. She sighed and closed her eyes as she thought of it; as she missed it.

She loved Hogwarts; it would have been foolish not to. It was beautiful. But after her nearly seven years of attending the magical school, she still didn't feel at home. Lily was almost ashamed that she didn't think in such a way. To so many, Hogwarts was their home. They loved the atmosphere, the people…everything. And although she loved her school dearly, her friends and many acquaintances and teachers…she often felt that it would always be just that: a school. With popularity contests, reputations, labels, work...no ideal home would have that now would it?

Her eyes were closed, face against the cold window pane when she was suddenly interrupted from her musings.

"What are you thinking about?"

Her eyes opened again, and turned towards Alexander. She nearly forgot he was sitting next to her, scratching away at his jaw humming to himself.

"Nothing really," Lily lied.

"Y'alright?" he asked, grasping her hand and rubbing it gently with his thumb; a tender gesture which Lily couldn't help but feel a soft flutter at the pit of her stomach as his ministrations continued.

"I'm fine!" Lily smiled. "Stop worrying!"

She then leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips, hoping to keep him from worrying any longer.

"You know, my friends are completely wrong about you," Alexander said as he pulled her closer to him and wrapped an arm around her.

"What do you mean by that?" Lily asked briskly.

"Um..."

"Oh no you don't!" Lily poked him in the chest. "You can't do that! Now you _have_ to tell me."

Alexander sighed as his hand rubbed her shoulder with one hand and his chin with the other. "Well…they sort of thought you were a bit…"

"A bit what?"

"A bit…phony."

"Phony," Lily repeated confusedly.

"Like you have some sort of a front."

"A front…"

"But they're wrong, of course!" Alexander exclaimed with a shrug. "They'll see."

"So your friends hate me," Lily groaned and frowned at an old cobweb residing soundly against the wall, causing her to shudder and hope no spiders were lurking nearby.

"Don't be stupid, of course they don't hate you. They just weren't quite sure if they were keen to you or not," he reassured her and leaned into her ear. "I reckon they're just jealous."

"Really?" Lily said, looking up and him with a coy smirk.

"Why wouldn't they be?" Alexander said with a flattering smile, flashing his teeth. "I'm dating the most popular, and by far the most gorgeous witch at Hogwarts for God's sake! I'd be jealous too! Oh, and they're probably afraid that you can take away their house points so I reckon they fear you too."

"Lily Evans: most popular dictator at Hogwarts. Lovely," Lily said sardonically.

"Aye! And a damn good one!" Alexander chuckled.

"They aren't the only one's jealous," Lily grumbled.

"Yeah?" Alexander frowned.

"Potter tried to talk to me about...us the other night."

"And what did he say?" Alexander said, sounding like he didn't want to hear any details about their conversation at all. Lily had an inkling that Alexander wasn't fond of the popular chaser in the slightest. And who could blame him? What with Lily's number of letters to him during the hols complaining about his "thoughtful" Christmas gift.

"Nothing worth repeating, to be perfectly honest," Lily said.

"He just doesn't give up, does he?" Alexander shook his head and brushed a strand of hair behind his ear.

"He's a Gryffindor," Lily stated. "Of course he hasn't given up yet."

"Maybe I should talk to him?" Alexander suggested. "Talk some sense into the ponce."

"Easier said than…" she rethought. "Actually, it's not easily said _or_ done. There is no point. I really thought he gave up for a while when he was with that tart Florence."

"No, I'm talking to him! Jacobsons don't let prats like Potter get in the way," Alexander said firmly. "I'll do it in a couplah days."

"I don't know…you might just be setting yourself up for…I don't even want to know what Potter may have up his sleeve. But whatever it is, it'll be stupid. Guaranteed."

"I can handle James Potter, Lily," Alexander assured her with a smug, nearly condescending smile. "Don't worry about it."

No matter how bright Lily knew Alexander to be, she wasn't convinced that he understood that James wouldn't take a right good talking to sitting down. He just _didn't_ know James Potter like she did. James once told her that Potters "never give up" as a justification for his repeated requests to declare Lily his girlfriend.

Perhaps as well as bravery, not knowing when to give up was another trait of a Gryffindor. She suddenly thought of her attempts to befriend Severus but quickly shook her head, trying to prevent thoughts of their last meeting from edging up ever so closely into the front corners of her mind.

"Alright," Lily said breezily. "If you say so. By the way, are you trying to get sideburns?"

"Oh! These babies?" Alexander grinned, stroking the growing hair along the sides of his face. Lily was pleased that the subject change worked somewhat smoothly. "You like 'em?"

"I guess they're cute," Lily said, laughing and poking his left sideburn. He, in return, also laughed…that was until her hand missed the mark and poked him in the eye.

"OW, FUCK!"

"Bugger, I'm sorry!" Lily gasped.

"S'okay," Alexander groaned, tenderly stroking his closed eye with a wince. "Let's just not poke each other's faces again, yeah?"

"Sounds good," Lily said, still blushing up a storm and totally not feeling romantic at all anymore. So instead she went back to looking out the window again as Alexander suddenly felt it was necessary that he forgive her by kissing her cheek and slowly progressing towards her neck with such sweet tentativeness that Lily couldn't help but move her neck to give him better access, assuring him that she didn't mind his soft lips kissing the defined bones of her neck. And as he progressed, she knew, with an odd sort of merriment, that there would likely be a mark there tomorrow.

She ought to find her foundation buried at the bottom of her trunk. Or perhaps a scarf...

**XXX**

James Potter couldn't bring himself to concentrate on anything his boring, old DADA professor was saying. Not only because she was droning on for a majority of the class, causing her students to itch with cravings to actually perform defensive spells upon each other, but because of the fact that he could clearly see Alexander Jacobson stroking the side of Lily's hand underneath the table the couple shared. He couldn't stop staring at the way Alexander's pale thumb brushed against Lily's peachy hand as she seemed to write down nearly every word spewing out of the professors mouth; her right hand trembling with the quill as his thumb brushed in it's down stroke.

Quickly tearing off a piece of parchment from his notes with an irritated growl, James dipped his quill in an inkwell, wrote a quick message, and passed it to Sirius, knowing the Professor likely didn't notice the interaction. She probably wouldn't notice an elephant standing in the room either. She was almost as bad as Professor Binns. Both were old kooks.

_Take a look at Jacobson and Evans_

Nudging the note to Sirius, he noticed his friend read the note with a smirk, looked up at the nerve-wracking couple, and responded.

_He seems to be molesting her hand, Prongs. So what?_

James suddenly felt incredibly unsettled.

_Reckon__ he could go to Azkaban for that?_

Sirius stifled a laugh.

_I don't think so, mate._

_I bet they're doing it._

James looked hesitant.

_Doing _what?

Sirius wrote his reply in very large letters.

_FUCKING._

James felt bile coursing through his body.

_FUCK__. YOU._

Nothing remotely interesting happened for the rest of class besides Peter scratching his armpit and Remus sneezing incredibly loudly near the end of class, nearly giving the batty Professor a mild stroke.

As their last class of the day was finally dismissed, the Marauders found themselves talking about upcoming Quidditch games and practices.

"McGoogles told me this morning. Yara is spending time with her family since they were in that accident and when asked who she would want to take her place, ol' Pruneburg said me," Sirius said with a skip in his step.

"Congratulations," Peter said, lifting his hand for a high five, which Sirius reciprocated extremely hard.

"McGonagall must be uneasy," Remus said. "I mean, _you_ doing the Quidditch announcements?"

"Thanks, Moony. Nice to have some support from a mate," Sirius said sourly.

"Please, you know you're going to milk this for all it's worth," Remus said. "And you were only chosen because that girl had a crush on you."

"Well, I'm sure Prongs has no problem with it," Sirius said.

"Yeah, it'll be great," James replied, but wasn't actually concentrating on the conversation at all. Instead, his focus was again centred upon Lily and Alexander "I'm a big wanker with big ears har har" Jacobson through the crowd of exodus bound NEWTs Defence Against the Dark Arts students. They were holding hands, yet again, and Jacobson was still doing that ruddy thumb rubbing deal.

"Hm, do we know any spells that detach thumbs?" James asked nobody in particular.

"Don't know any," Sirius said quietly. "But I bet I know somebody who does."

James noticed Sirius gaze was intent on a certain black haired, big nosed, Slytherin git…Snape…walking close to the other side of the corridor against the wall, looking intently ahead of him. James couldn't help but grin as Sirius rushed up to the Slytherin, and stood in front of him, blocking his way.

Severus suddenly froze in his tracks, and promptly reached for his wand. But James, fast on his feet, ran up to him and managed to magic his wand away from him with a simple summoning charm.

"Well hello there, Snivellus," Sirius drawled, already attracting a few of the sixth years to stop walking and watch the confrontation. "My, you're looking positively vile this morning."

"Piss off, Black," Severus muttered as he reached into his pocket to retrieve his wand, and with widened eyes noticed it wasn't there. He began patting all over himself until James cleared his throat.

"Looking for this, Snivelly?" James asked with a grin as he twisted and twirled Snape's wand in the air; several of the onlookers began to chuckle.

Severus' eyes narrowed as he reached out his arm, hoping to catch the magical piece of polished wood but he was no match to James quick reflexes. James thought the attempt was nothing less than pathetic.

"I hear it was your birthday the other day. Seventeenth!" Sirius continued with a grin and catching Severus' attention once more. "Cheers, eh? To our pal Snivellus!"

"Sirius," Remus started, but was swiftly drowned out by Sirius.

"So, whatcha get?" Sirius asked snidely.

James continued to tease Severus with the wand; twirling it between his fingers with ease. He then noticed Lily and the twit approach the small crowd; the former looking furious.

"Black!" Lily said, wrenching herself from Alexander's grip to approach Sirius, leaving Alexander looking a bit put out and James growing happier and happier by the second. She, however, stopped her approach mid step as she seemed to see who exactly Sirius was tormenting. A look of hesitation swept her features as she watched the scene, eyes flickering from the floor to Sirius, to Severus, to James, to a window, to Remus, to James, to Sirius, to James, to a blonde girl with buckteeth…

"Did you hear me?" Sirius continued to taunt with a slight shove to Severus' chest. "I asked whatcha got? What did little ol' Snivelly get for becoming a man?"

Severus tried to budge out of the obstructing boy's way, but was blocked each time. "Did mumsie dearest get you 'my furst ickle dark awts kit'? Or some soap? Hygiene in a cauldron would make a great gift for you. Lessen the stench, yeah?"

"Black…" Lily said weakly as girls and boys giggled and snickered. She glanced at the tormentor and the tormented with a weariness she never usually displayed whenever Sirius was bothering a student. She would typically turn a brilliant shade of pink when angered with the popular boy, but now she appeared rather white instead.

"He's asking a perfectly legitimate question, Evans," James finally piped up, hoping to get the girl's attention.

It worked.

"Potter, you know perfectly well that holding another student's wand hostage is against school rules," Lily said with her arms crossed, paying all over her attention to the chaser. "Now, if you tried to _follow_ a single school rule then maybe—"

"Has anyone told you you're looking extra glowing this afternoon?" James said, looking her up and down with a large grin and revelling in her increasingly blushing cheeks. "And with such weather outside! Evans, you're like my own little ball of sunshine!"

"That would make me a big ball of gas."

"Yes…but you'd be _my_ own big ball of gas, love," James winked while running his free arm through his hair and relishing the extra chuckles it caused. He noticed Lily look away and tried to hide a ghost of a smile but _did not _notice Jacobson walking over to the talking pair.

"Lily, I thought we were going to study Transfiguration," Jacobson said with a strong look, taking her hand in his once more, and causing James to suddenly feel his blood scorching though his veins, red with anger and perhaps green with jealousy.

"Yeah…right," Lily said, and in an instant grabbed Severus' wand from a distracted James Potter and turned around towards Sirius and Severus once more. "Black, get out of his way!"

"Aw, are you going to make me, Evans?" Sirius asked smarmily.

"I reckon a good, swift kick to the bollocks should do the trick," Lily threatened, lifting her foot slightly to show that underneath the heavy robes and uniform lay a pair of very heavy looking shoes...with heels...and strappy bits.

"Lily Evans: saving Slytherin scum in the name of bollocks," Sirius mocked as Lily quickly returned Severus' wand to its proper owner. "You really do deserve the title Saint Evans."

Sirius was about to turn away but suddenly frowned as Severus swiftly pointed his wand towards Sirius with a sweeping motion, promptly running down the corridor as fast as he could from the marauding bully.

Sirius blanched. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST DO, YOU GREASY LITTLE TWAT?"

After seconds of seemingly no results from the mysterious nonverbal spell, Sirius shrugged and simpered, "Maybe Snivellus isn't as up to par as he thought he—"

Sirius suddenly faltered mid sentence, his eyes growing wide and mouth contorting slightly. Everyone, including an alarmed Lily Evans stared at the popular Gryffindor with immense curiosity.

"Sirius?" Remus asked while staring at Severus with narrowed eyes.

"Padfoot? PADFOOT?" James nudged his friend fretfully.

Suddenly, Sirius let out a small squeak as his eyes were glued to the crotch of his trousers.

"I—I…I swear…I will KILL THAT BASTARD!" Sirius managed to roar.

"What curse did he use?" Lily asked worriedly. "He is supposed to be a prefect! This is ridiculous!"

A few girls around Sirius began to panic, expecting the worse from an area of his body which they only joked about in the privacy of their dorms.

"What the bloody hell happened?" James asked Sirius impatiently.

"Not here," Sirius said.

"But—"

"Not. Here."

With a wince, Sirius made to walk to the landing of the nearest staircase with much difficulty, walking as though he had an umbrella lodged in-between his legs. Remus was clearly amused by the sight, but didn't dare voice it based on Sirius's current state of absolute fury. Peter looked incredibly worried and asked him if he could do anything to help ("Don't you even think about coming near my bollcoks! Remember what happened last time? Do you not remember a certain incident involving a certain Gryffindor and a certain feather duster?" Sirius shouted at Peter as they slowly ascended). James however, didn't hide his laugher as he followed his friends, until, whilst looking around him, spotted Lily and Alexander walking down the hallway together again; arms around each other and glued at the hip as Lily continued to rant about, 'shameless misbehaviour of students'.

Alexander briefly looked behind him; his eyes catching the chaser's and James could have sworn he saw a smile float across the Ravenclaw's face.

A challenging smile?

Somehow, James hoped so.

**XXX**

He had an incredibly guilty conscious.

It had been over two weeks since the birthday fiasco with Lily and Severus couldn't help but feel guilt beating him against the head like a frying pan as the days and weeks past. He couldn't stand to look at her in class without feeling an urge to blurt out an apology, even when she wasn't in close proximity. For example, when she sat on the other side of the Great Hall eating and giggling with her friends and fans, he couldn't help but to watch her and imagine what he would say if he happened to run into her during night-time rounds.

Severus spent one particular evening in the library for no particular reason besides taking books off shelves at random, admiring their spine, and glancing through their index before placing it back on the shelf. As he grabbed one particularly posh looking black, leather bound book, the open space it left behind on the shelf showed Severus a sliver of _her_.

It was literally impossible to get away from her.

But there she was studying and, amazingly, _alone_ at a small table, chin rested in the palm of her hand and sighing. She looked incredibly bored as her fingertips lazily turned the pages, crossing and uncrossing her legs while tugging anxiously on the top hem of her knee length socks.

As he watched the redhead's studious demeanour, he attempted to put away the heavy leather book...which promptly fell onto the floor with a loud plop.

"Damn," he whispered.

Lily gasped as her head snapped up, and after staring around herself for several seconds before her eyes must have fixed on his visible eye beyond the wooden shelves.

Her surprise and look of confusion was promptly replaced with that of disdain as she looked away from him with a frown.

Enough was enough.

"Oh, for fuck's _sake_," Severus restrained himself from shouting, but instead resorted to hissing at the girl, who, upon hearing such vice, looked at him coolly under her lashes.

"Come to apologize?" Lily asked, her eyes continuing to pour over the book she was reading.

"Just answer me this," Severus said, sitting down across from her angrily. Lily looked straight at him with a taxing glare, as though partaking in a gruelling gauntlet. "Why?

"Why?" Lily frowned prettily in a way which made the sides of her nose crinkle and her brows furrow. She clearly wasn't expecting that question. "Why what?"

"Why must you insist upon trying...no, _thinking_ you are helping people all the ruddy time?"

"What's wrong with helping people?" Lily retaliated.

Severus groaned and pulled up a chair. "Nothing! Just…"

He sat across from her hastily and as their eyes met, Severus suddenly felt to need to look away. Eye contact was hardly important right now after all. Staring at the surface of the tale was good enough.

"It's just that you have a problem."

Lily chortled quietly at such a conclusion. "I do, do I?"

"It's not funny," Severus said, and heard Lily attempt to stifle her chuckles. He lowered his voice. "I don't…tolerate being laughed at."

"You know, Severus…" Lily started, causing him to blink sharply at his name (he still wasn't quite used to it). "I can't change that. It's just…"

"Part of your ever sparkling personality?" Severus suggested with a roll of the eyes.

"Sure," Lily snapped, appearing to have been insulted by his statement. "And if you don't like it, bollocks! It's hardly _my_ problem. Now, I know you came over here to talk to me about something besides my supposed character flaws. If you think I'm going to bend over backwards just to please _you_ and _your_ idea of idealistic, selfish behaviour, you've got another thing coming!"

"No, actually I didn't," Severus sneered. "Good luck with the rest of your studies."

"Fine," Lily huffed. "I don't want to spend my evening with such an utter and complete downer anyway."

"Are you _trying_ to piss me off?"

"As though you haven't hurt _my_ feelings!" Lily exclaimed.

"I never said you hurt my feelings," Severus clarified. "I said you were pissing me off. Just like a Gryffindor to take something so unbelievably simple out of context."

"Insult me all you want, I don't care anymore," Lily hissed unconvincingly. "And you've made it quite clear that you don't either so just leave me alone!"

Leave her alone. That was a good idea. Incredibly easy, too. So why the hell weren't his feet moving and why was he practically _staring_ at the frustrated girl in front of him?

"You heard me, go!" Lily snapped. "Probably can't afford to be seen with somebody like me from any of your mates, yeah?"

"Oh, and like you'd fine if you were seen by _yours_!" Severus retorted snidely. "The pretty, popular bloody Gryffindor_ princess_ wouldn't be caught dead with a—"

Severus was nearly panting and suddenly grew even more furious when he saw a smile slowly crawled upon Lily's lips. Her emotions changed faster than a light switch around him.

"What exactly are you smiling about?"

"Well," Lily said lightly. "This little conversation figured one thing out."

"And what the hell is that?"

Lily leaned across the table, her face close to his ear as fear shook him. He felt her warm breath against his hair, slithering onto his skin and attacking his prickling nerves. His breathing increased tenfold, hands clenching and unclenching. What on earth was she doing to him? Did it only take the tickling sensation of her breath on his skin to completely destroy him?

"You, Severus Snape, think I'm pretty."

Severus features tightened as Lily continued to grin at him.

_Fuck._

"No, I don't."

"So I'm ugly?"

"Yes."

With that, he quickly rose out of his chair and rushed towards the library exit, all the while absolutely confused and embarrassed.

_You, Severus Snape, are an utter and complete idiot._

**XXX**

"I mean…I know more about her than Jacobson ever will," James mumbled into his pillow as he half-heartedly read his newest issue of _Quidditch Monthly_ while munching his sorrows away on a pumpkin pasty in the boys dormitory. His brows were tightened in a permanent scowl as he replayed the scene over and over and over again in his mind: after leaving the great hall, he caught sight of Alexander's greedy little lips making nice with Lily's in the entrance hall; thus becoming quite possibly the most disturbing thing he ever had to endure. It was worse than walking in on his mum getting dressed when he was thirteen or the time when Sirius decided to see what would happen if he tried to wax his right arse cheek. The fact that Alexander's hands were close to groping Lily's bum certainly didn't help matters. Nor the fact that she was wearing extremely tight Muggle jeans that hugged said bum in an obscenely hypnotizing way (he reckoned they should be outlawed). And especially the fact that Peter's eyes too seemed to be transfixed on her backside.

"By the way, Wormtail. If you ever look at Evans' arse that way again I'll be forced to gouge your fucking eyes out, mate," James grunted. "I swear I will."

"Well it was hard not to!" Peter insisted. "It was right in front of me and demanding that my eyes…go there."

"Lily's arse doesn't talk, you daft twat," James said. "You could have looked at the portrait of that 17th century tart on the wall. What's her name? Melinda the Merry? She was rather flirtatious today."

"I reckon she fancies me," Peter said proudly with his head lifted high.

"Oh, congratulations," Sirius mumbled. "I thought it would be impossible but I reckon that oil painting is 'the one', yeah?"

Peter flushed but seemed to keep his pride of being admired by an oil painting in tact but it soon turned into a look of confusion.

"Oh shut up, boil bollocks," Remus muttered. Sirius acquired the new nickname after the incident with Snape several days earlier. It was, as Sirius put it, the most unsettling moment of his life when he finally gave up all hope of the boils reducing in size and number as the day progressed and decide to go to Madame Pomfrey for assistance. He was forced to show her he damage, the poor woman let out a cry of disgust and asked him, "Who on EARTH have you been spending your leisure time with?" Luckily, the condition was cleared up within hours thanks to Pomfrey's healing expertise; but word quickly spread of Sirius' problem "down there" and many girls (and guys…and staff) were reluctant to stand within a foot of him. Even Peter was a bit hesitant at meals around the popular boy who he's looked up to.

"I wish it was contagious, Moony. You're the first person I'd give it to," Sirius retorted.

As Remus seemed to be inking in the finishing touches of the map he worked on in his spare time, Sirius and James managed to find a password charm when they were arsing about in the library. They seemed to be on their way to creating a map solely for the purpose of pranks and late night excursions, but even James couldn't be excited about it as the image of Lily's lips touching Alexander's stayed fresh in his mind.

"I know everything about her!" James cried again as flecks of spit sprayed out of his mouth.

"Favourite colour?" Sirius asked.

"Green of course."

"Favourite band?"

"Hobgoblins."

"Favourite _Muggle_ band?" Peter asked.

"That's easy, mate. Those Beatles. Or those…Stones people. Or maybe those blokes who look really gay when they're wearing—"

"What is her wand made out of?" Remus tested James as he dipped his quill into his inkwell once more.

"Her wand is willow, 10 ¼", with a unicorn core."

"Wow, you _are_ good," Peter said in awe. "Favourite lip gloss flavour?"

Each of the boys gave Peter a look.

"What?" Peter defended. "It's a legitimate question."

"Erm…watermelon?"

"I think its strawberry actually," Remus said with a frown

"Oh, so you and Evans are swapping lippy now?" Sirius chuckled. "You are such a woman, Remus."

"Her favourite season is autumn, she can't eat too much sour candy without feeling a little sick, her sister's name is Petunia, she owns a pair of knickers that say Tuesday on them—"

"Do I even want to know how you found that out?" Remus asked with an impish smile.

"You remember that day last spring when it was really, really windy out?" James asked with a rogue grin. "Well, let's just say that I happened to be at the right place at the right time."

"Cheers," Sirius said boringly. "I can't stand to hear another word about the swot."

"Would you mind explaining your dislike for her? You seem to not mind her to her face," Remus asked in a slightly defensive tone. He, out of all the boys, had the most "normal" relationship with the redhead who was constantly a topic of discussion in and outside of the dorm.

"She's got a heart of ice, that one," Sirius said, his voice steadily getting more passionate. "She just steps all over Prongs here without a second thought and has the professors wrapped around her ugly little fingers, and...and her hair is red. I don't see what the hell you see in her, Prongs. She's just nothing but trouble. I bet she is in the IRA or something!"

"There is nothing wrong with her hair!" James shouted. "And what the fuck is the IRA?"

"You have the nerve to warn James about trouble!" Remus snorted.

"If you like Evans so much why not find her and get the fuck out of here?" Sirius barked.

"I'm working on the map! Remus retorted.

"And she's not that fit anyway," Sirius sniffed. "I've seen nicer tits."

"On who, McGoogles?" Remus asked scathingly.

"Fuck you," Sirius frowned.

"Fuck _you_," Remus retaliated.

"No, fuck _you_," Sirius grunted with a kick to Remus' head, which was in close contact to Sirius' socked foot.

"Ouch!" Remus growled and punched Sirius back in the leg, only to be kicked in the face by Sirius. The sandy haired Marauder decided it was now a good time to punch the other boy hard in the stomach.

"Wanker!" Sirius groaned as he clutched his stomach. "Since when did you have such a hard punch? And since when do you defend Evans' tits?"

"I save it for special occasions of your idiocy," Remus said. "And I wasn't defending her damn breasts. Finished your bloody map by the way. I should be paid for my efforts."

"Did you really? You'll get paid in snogs if you don't hand it over" Sirius said excitedly, completely forgetting the fight and picking up the intricate map. James and Peter also walked over to the map and James' mouth hung open.

"This is almost as beautiful as my signed copy of Quidditch Through the Ages," James whispered as his fingers caressed the large piece of parchment which depicted Hogwarts, _his_ Hogwarts...no..._their_ Hogwarts just as he imagined it would be. It was simple yet utterly breathtaking. The depicted staircases and towers...the edge of the forest, Hagrid's hut, the Quidditch pitch..._everything. _It was nearly perfect.

"Now...that tracking charm," Sirius said as he rubbed his hands together.

"I talked to Lily about that. Offhandedly of course," Remus quickly added as the boys looked at him with startled expressions.

"And what did she say?" Sirius asked.

"Said that we'd probably find something in the Restricted Section. Magic like that would hardly be in our grade level books," Remus muttered darkly.

"What the hell are you moping about, you great pillock?" Sirius asked. "We'll just sneak in later this week with the cloak. It's been a while since we've snuck into the library."

"Yeah, before I became a prefect," Remus reminded him.

"Merlin, you're not going to let something as silly as a prefect's badge get in the way of the most amazing map in the history of maps! Don't be a damn Nancy about it!" Sirius said as he gave the werewolf an almighty shake by the shoulder.

"There's a difference between being a Nancy and being responsible," Remus said.

"All who vote for sneaking in the library say aye!" Sirius shouted.

"AYE!" added James and Peter.

"And all opposed?"

"Aye," Remus grumbled, undoubtedly outnumbered.

"Well, majority rules, Moony. We're sneaking in and you're going to like it! Feel the library's draft through your hair and smell Filch's breath as he chases us down the corridors. It'll be just like old times, yeah?"

"No."

"Know what? You ruddy tit-defenders spoil all the fun."

**XXX**

If it had been any other day, she wouldn't have done it.

But she liked to think that sometimes things occurring in the heat of passion were justified.

So when the bell rang, signalling the start of Alexander's and Lily's NEWTs Potions class, the two were still tucked away in a tight alcove snogging away, Lily becoming steadily light headed.

"Maybe we should…"

"Go?"

"Yeah…probably should…"

"I think I'm having more fun here," Alexander grinned against the skin of her neck as his hands rubbed against her waist through her thick, grey wool sweater; the rough texture against her skin causing arousing sensations and steady gasping.

"No, really, Alex—"

His lips moved directly below her ear, causing her to groan in bliss and frustration. "Are you trying to kill me?" Lily snapped.

"That may be part of the plan," Alexander said, capturing her lips once more and slyly slipping in a bit of tongue. She was thoroughly thankful for the fact that the alcove they occupied was hidden away from most prying eyes. Though Lily suddenly grew paranoid with the possibility of a lone first year, professor, or worse, caretaker Argus Filch catching the sight of the two hormone driven teenagers playing a passionate game of tonsil hockey. Lily eventually pushed Alexander away, panting heavily and straightening out her robes and hair which was rather ruffled.

She checked her watch and sighed. "We're over five minutes late, Alexander. We should have gone to class!"

"Relax, love," Alexander said in a sing song tone. "Say ya had t'assist a first year to the infirmary."

"And _your_ excuse?" Lily asked with her arms crossed.

"Got sick from the scones?" Alexander shrugged as they began to jog towards the third floor to Professor Slughorn's NEWTs potions class. When the couple reached the door, Lily straightened out her hair once more and took a deep breath before entering. Every head turned and Lily immediately felt herself blush.

"Lily, you're late," Professor Slughorn said as he bounced on the balls of his feet. "Oh, and you as well Mr. Jacobson."

"I'm so sorry, professor," Lily said. From the back of the room, Alexander piping up with an, "I as well" behind her. "I was helping a first year and..."

"And I had a bad scone!" Alexander said, causing knowing snickers around the room, all of which meant nothing to professor Slughorn.

"Very well, but I'm deducting three points from Gryffindor and 10 from Ravenclaw."

The Ravenclaws in the class groaned and gaped in disbelief.

"Ten, professor?"

"Yes, ten now sit your arse down."

Lily frowned as she realized it was James who opened his fat mouth to make the snide remark. She was ready to retaliate in Alexander's defence when Professor Slughorn interrupted.

"You heard right, Mr. Jacobson. Now, take a seat next to Davies and Lily, you can have a seat here next to Severus."

Lily's heart leapt to her throat as she noticed Severus' shoulders tense as another wave of scattered whispers travelled throughout the room.

"Alright, professor," Lily said, and strode over to the seat next to the boy she hadn't spoke to in weeks. She fell into the chair with a plop and found Slughorn's look of immense pleasure irritating to the bone. She knew _exactly_ what he was doing: yet again pairing up the so called Potions prodigies and treat them like lab rats: find out how they would adapt around one another…they were his little experiment.

"Now, as I was saying…much like love potions—"

"We're making Amortentia today, professor?" Lily blurted out with disappointment as she realized she missed so much time worth of valuable information on a potion she has wanted to concoct since she first entered Hogwarts and only dreamed about prior.

Slughorn chuckled. "No, no, Miss. Evans. Not quite yet."

Lily let out a sigh of relief.

"_That_ will be assigned soon enough, however."

The room broke out into whispers once more. Excited ones. Lily immediately turned to Alice and Emmeline who were partnered together on the other side of the room, and shared a huge, eager smile.

"You don't want to get James too excited, professor!" Sirius barked from his seat in the room. "Merlin knows he needs a shag!"

Sirius received a hard punch in the shoulder for that particular crack, causing the noise level in the room to rise tenfold.

"Settle down, settle down!" Slughorn finally called, and the room gradually began to reduce to a murmuring whisper once more. "Again, like love potions, Everlasting Exilers have an incredibly enthralling scent. Not as strong and varied as Amortentia but still, pleasurable scents are common if prepared properly. Today, with the help of your partner, you will commence the first part of the potion. My seventh year NEWTs students will finish it up since they must review particular properties in which you will not have to worry about until next year."

Slughorn glanced at the table Lily and Severus sat for a second before continuing.

"Now, I believe all the bases have been covered," Slughorn boomed, and pointed his wand at the chalkboard where all the ingredients were listed. "Gather your ingredients, heat up your cauldrons, and turn to page 148 please!"

Without further ado, Severus stood up, ready to get the ingredients.

"I'll get them," Lily said firmly.

"_I'm _getting them, Evans," Severus whispered in return, refusing to look in her direction.

"Oh, so we're back to that, are we?" Lily observed with a sigh. "Fine, you get the bloody ingredients, _Snape_. I'll look over the instructions."

And that he did as Lily busied herself with the directions until she paused as she read the 5th direction:

_Measure 5 porcupine quills into 15 cm pieces. Add to simmering potion. This helps chill the solution before adding a single clove._

_Use porcupine quills to chill the solution?_ Lily thought confusedly. _A pinch of grated eye of newt should do the same thing in half the time!_

"Professor?" Lily called, but might as well have given up once she saw him picking at a bag of sugar coated pineapple and chewing heartily. "Professor Slughorn," she called louder.

"Maybe he's growing some brains and ignoring you, Mudblood" Evan Rosier sneered quietly as he walked past her. Trying to ignore the offending boy, she decided not to tell Slughorn about her theory. Seconds later, Severus returned with all the ingredients gathered. Lily felt an urge to tell him of her idea.

_He'll just snap at you_, she thought.

"Turn up the cauldron," Severus said gruffly.

"Listen, I—"

"I don't want to hear it. We aren't meeting up again and I'm sure you'll cope," Severus whispered.

Lily couldn't help but smile. "I was actually about to tell you that I found an interesting alternative to the potion but apparently _our studying_ is on your mind instead..."

Severus ignored her.

"So you've been thinking of me?" Lily toyed.

"I've been thinking about my pinkie toes more than you."

"Are you sure?" Lily asked again, not being able to resist taking the mickey out of him. "Your comment suggests otherwise."

"What did you discover, Evans?" Severus interrupted, quickly changing the subjects.

Lily told him her idea of using the newt rather than quills. Severus mulled over Lily's bright idea for a moment whilst looking at their steadily steaming cauldron. His jaw tightened and his brows furrowed and he looked as though in the ultimate state of intellectual, pensive thought.

"Since when did _you_ think outside of the box?" he suddenly asked.

"Pardon?"

"Just at the beginning of last term you were hesitant about my own experimentation in this very class," Severus said. "Now you're actually suggesting that we change the original instructions."

"This is a one time thing," Lily said. "I'm not altering the entire potion. I'm just...making a logical suggestion."

"Sorry to burst your bubble of pride but I was nearly complimenting you."

"Oh," Lily said, biting her lip for a moment before replying. "Well, I...thank you."

The two were quiet as they began to commence the first steps of the concoction amongst the chatter of the students and the fumes of the cauldrons twisting and twirling around the compact room, causing sweat to already tickle the brows and behind the necks of the brewers. Lily briefly thought of Marlene, who always complained of the horrible conditions the environment of the room plagued upon her textured hair. Unlike her friend, Lily absolutely thrived off of it.

It was perhaps another aspect of her fairytale view of witchcraft: hovering over a steaming cauldron, mixing vile and strange ingredients which, in their noxious combination, made various solutions...some a blessing and some a curse while others could be mentioned in death threats. It fascinated her, really, how the simple combination of items could have the ability to melt metal or cause one to sing or give one the strength of a heard of hippogriffs. It almost had the same effect as charms for her and her ever expanding imagination. It was moments like this that she sometimes believed she best pinch herself. She still wasn't completely used to this world she was thrown into...and sometimes it scared her by how much this new world was becoming...normal instead of unusual and unorthodox.

"Evans, pay attention or else I'll ask Slughorn for a competent partner," Severus snarled, snapping her out of her mindless stirring of the cauldron.

"Sorry...just...thinking," Lily said quietly. "About—"

"Does it look like I care what's going on in that head of yours?" Severus rudely replied.

"All of this behaviour because of a damned birthday gift," Lily murmured in disbelief.

"It wasn't just the gift and keep your bloody voice down," Severus whispered, as though everyone could hear him amongst the boiling and chatter.

"You're paranoid," Lily concluded.

"You're daft," Severus retorted.

"Listen, are you going to go with my idea or not?" Lily asked anxiously.

"No."

"But—"

"There is no point using alternative methods to _this_ potion, Evans," Severus scoffed haughtily.

"I really think this'll do it wonders, Severus," Lily insisted as she brushed her fringe out of her face. "I mean, think about it! Think of Slughorn's reaction when he sees that the potion is the perfect." she looked at the end of the instructions. "'Thick green consistency' in nearly half the time."

"I'm not denying that your idea makes sense," Severus said firmly. "But this isn't the time to be creative. This potion is so bland and straightforward that it is hardly even worth it. Messy too, even if we follow the instructions perfectly. Most of these idiots will hardly make it past step six!"

"If the rest are likely to fail why not take a chance?" Lily said eagerly, green eyes glowing. "I'll admit, I've never...thought this way before. I mean, I've never read instructions so precise and felt the need to alter them. I'm not...well...I'm not _you_. I don't have marks all over my bloody potion book and I'm not exactly the most creative potions student. That's what I've admired about you since that day back in September, Severus. You...I mean...you altered half of the instructions and it came out absolutely...brilliantly! I can still see that sheen! And what if...what if it's a calling. Like it's _my_ turn to try something new and bend the rules!"

"Calm down, Evans," Severus said, this time less harshly. "Cut up the ginger and put it in."

Lily did as she was told with ease before continuing. "Come on, Severus. What have we got to lose?"

"Our health if you make _one_ mistake, Evans," Severus responded after a few seconds of silence.

Lily beamed with excitement as they just happened to finally come along the potion altering step. Lily ground the newt eye with her mortar and pestle until a grainy, white residue remained. Pleased, Lily held her breath and threw in the ground newt eye, expecting the potion to skip a step or two and turn a murky orange.

Yet...nothing happened and she felt her stomach sink.

"Skip to step...erm...nine and add the dittany. Hurry!" Lily said desperately.

He did so...nothing.

Lily turned the potion in the pattern stated in the Advanced Potion Book vigorously three times.

Still nothing.

She was so consumed with what on earth could be the problem that she completely ignored 3 simultaneous booms and splashes of potion hitting the ground as surrounding students groaned and laughed.

"Oh no," Lily sighed sadly as she stared at the dark, thin gray consistency of the potion. "Maybe I was wrong."

"Well you can't go back now," Severus said angrily. "I knew I shouldn't have let you fuck the potion up."

Too concerned with the lack of clear, immediate results, Lily must have turned the spoon extra rounds, causing Severus to hiss and grab her wrist. She gasped at the sudden contact, her skin warming under his grip.

"You turned it too much!" Severus said as he glared at her right in the eye. "Is it so hard to pay—?"

"Look Severus," Lily suddenly whispered after tearing her eyes away from his and back into the now bubbling potion.

An incredibly thick, incredibly green bubbling potion lay in the deep cauldron. Lily's eyes, if possible, looked even greener and Severus' skin was washed with the emerald light.

"Merlin..." Severus blinked. "It looks..."

"PERFECT!"

The entire class, including the two praised students, began to watch Slughorn's enthrallment of the potion. "Absolute perfection!"

Lily's head began to spin, a burst of joy exploding within her as she realized that it worked! Her idea worked. The ground newt's eye, ignoring steps 5-8, and three more rotations of the potion...it all worked! The sides of Lily's mouth began to hurt from smiling so largely.

"Thank you professor!" Lily finally said as the rotund moustached man took a grand, golden spoon into his tight grip and continued to admire the solution.

"You, Lily, never cease to astound me! Severus helped too, I'm sure," Slughorn added with a wink towards the lanky boy who was gazing at Lily with wide eyed astonishment. "But Miss Evans...You see class? This is what you should all strive for."

Lily's pride turned into embarrassment as she saw Sirius Black roll their eyes, James just...watching her, and Alexander clapping very enthusiastically.

She reminded herself to murder him later for _that_ particular move.

Some of her classmates approached the cauldron, peering into it and wondering where they went wrong in their own concoctions. A few even asked Lily how she did it.

"I..." Lily began as she glanced at Severus who suddenly appeared to be very embarrassed. "I just went with it."

Alexander walked up to the potion and stared at it. "Looks like kryptonite to me."

Lily chuckled. "It sort of does, yeah?"

A few more groans and booms later, Slughorn demanded that the students bottle up their potions and lay them on his desk; each student was incredibly eager to leave the odorous, smoke filled room.

Alexander then kissed an off guard Lily lightly on the lips. When she quirked an eyebrow at such a mood, Alexander shrugged. "I'm proud of your potions accomplishment? We should celebrate"

"You just want a quick snog, you oaf," Lily said with a smirk.

"I've got needs love," he laughed softly into Lily's ear, his right hand gently rubbing against her side, causing her to involuntarily shudder until she felt Alexander suddenly jerk and rub the top of his head. "What the..."

Lily immediately looked over her boyfriend's shoulder to see James laughing with Sirius near the back of the room. Just as the bell rang, Lily looked down to find a dried up ginger root on the floor. Thinking quickly, Lily picked it up and just as she saw James turn his back to leave the room, she launched the root across the room, hitting Potter square in the back of the head.

"OW!"

James turned around, wand at the ready and had the nerve to smirk when he realized it was Lily who left him in a ginger induced haze.

"That's very sweet of you, Evans. Defending your boyfriend. It's clear who wears the trousers in this relationship."

Alexander immediately started aggressively towards the Gryffindor, but Lily held him back with a tug of his shoulder.

"I don't like him," Alexander mumbled as they slowly made their way to the entrance hall to part ways to separate classes.

"Join the club," Lily said softly. "I mean...sometimes he's..."

She was about to say decent until she glanced at Alexander who frowned at her.

"Sometimes he's what?"

"Nothing...nothing," Lily sighed. "I just...sometimes I feel like it's all for show. As though he isn't _really_ like that on his own. There is something about the way he acts sometimes that just isn't genuine."

Alexander then surprised Lily by snorting with unreserved disdain as they walked out of the room. "There is no point in giving that bloke the benefit of the doubt. None. I refuse to let him get in the way of us."

"You think he's getting in the way?" Lily asked confusedly.

"No, I mean…it's clear he doesn't want us together and I'm not giving that bastard what he wants. We're going to make this work."

"You're saying that as though we're already in a rut, Alexander," Lily cried as she came to a halt in front of a narrow staircase.

"We're not. But…I just don't want us to be because of him. He'll knock it off, trust me," Alexander promised, and with that kissed Lily, for the umpteenth time, on the lips and quickly said bye before heading to the Ravenclaw tower.

Lily was left standing there in the busy hall staring after him, wondering if James was…or _will_ get in the way like Alexander implied.

**XXX**

It was frightening how much one person can completely screw over his mind.

What was even more frightening, however, was the fact that one Evan Rosier, with his incredibly keen eye and pleasure of getting on people's nerves, took notice to Severus density around a particular redhead and decided to address it in an incredibly barefaced way.

"Did you hear about what happened the other day?" Evan asked the dorm room as a whole one night. He just came back from taking a shower and was currently checking himself out in the mirror, rubbing his chin and looking up his nostrils. "How those two Mudbloods were attacked in Derby and taken to St. Mungos?"

"Who _hasn't_ heard about that?" Severus said, no longer able to concentrate on his book. That particular attack had been all over the headlines for days; every rumour and development was the only thing discussed and speculated upon in the various newspapers and news segments on the wireless.

"Well, I hear one of the Mudblood's sisters is in her fifth year here. I've seen her actually; not too bad looking," Evan continued with a nonchalant shrug.

"You mean that Patricia girl in Ravenclaw?" Wilkes asked.

"Yes," Evan affirmed as he stretched out across his bed lazily.

Demetrius snorted as he combed his hair. "She's got a bloody lisp, mate."

"Oh," Evan said, somewhat disappointed and glanced at Severus. "Well, they can't all be like Lily Evans."

Severus felt his blood run cold and his heart skip a beat as he heard her name spoken aloud, and couldn't help but dread what could possibly come next. He nervously scratched the side of his nose and kept his eyes glued to his book.

"Can they, Severus?"

_What?_

"What?" Severus snapped.

"Oh don't play dumb, I've seen you stealing glances at Evans all fucking week," Evan said with a small smile. "Not to mention being her partner in Potions for, what, the second time so far this year?"

"I don't blame you, mate," Demetrius defended. "I hear she's good."

"I'm ten times better than she is," Severus growled. "And I'd still love to know what the hell you're talking about. Slughorn forced us to be partners-"

"You're fooling yourself," Evan said as he had the nerve to drop his towel in front of everyone and reach for a pair of pants.

"For Merlin's sake!" Wilkes groaned.

"Just remember, mate," Evan said, ignoring the protests of seeing his bits. Evan was comfortable with his body to an extreme, but Severus supposed he didn't really have anything to be ashamed of.

"I'm being completely serious," Evan continued darkly as he pulled on boxers. He lowered his voice dramatically and sauntered over towards the side of Severus' bed, looking down at him with the typical Rosier swagger. "Just remember, mate. You know, as well as I and any other _true_ wizard, that Mudbloods like Evans are only useful for one thing and one thing only."

As Evan turned away and made to recline in his bed, Severus steadily retorted, "And what is that?"

Evan looked at from over his shoulder before scoffing. "To fuck, you idiot."

Demetrius and Wilkes all chuckled and high-five'd one another.

"Thanks for that lesson, Evan," Severus said, feeling something deep within the pit of his stomach tighten and coil with an unfamiliar rage.

"I hear Mudblood girls are some easy shags," Demetrius said with a low whisper and a wicked leer. "Or, at least that's what my cousin Curtis told me. Of course, no further than that…Merlin if aunt or uncle ever found out!"

"Hanged by his thumbs, yeah?" Evan nodded.

"Absolutely," Demetrius said darkly. "Anyway, easy shags. Probably 'cause they're all dumber than a door knob."

"I'm surprised Evans got into so many NEWTs classes this year," Evan said bitterly. "My father reckons that the O.W. L. examiners are getting lazy."

"Interesting, Evan. I'm nearly positive she's gotten better marks than you for the past six years," Severus commented smoothly. "But yes, lets blame the examiners."

"Besides the bloody marks," Evan cried. "And we all know she only got into all the NEWTs level classes by mere charm. I mean, look at Potions! She only got in because Slughorn has taken a liking to her. Told my parents about him playing favourites. Always flattering the Mudblood as though she's part of his own house! As though she's a Slytherin!"

Evan Rosier looked nauseous at the very thought.

"_I_ heard she did so poorly on her Potions OWL that she did a few…_favours_…for Sluggy just to make up for it," Wilkes said with a sick grin. "I guess she was putting _some_ sort of skill to use."

"Well, thanks for the sensation to vomit, _Oleander_," Severus said as he shut his book with a resounding smack and got underneath his covers, ready to close the curtains around his four poster bed and charm it to keep out the stupidity.

"See, you're getting emotionally involved already!" Evan pointed out to Severus. "It's almost as if you actually _fancy_ that cunt."

"Don't you mean fancy that _Mudblood's cunt_, Evan?" Demetrius snickered.

The boys all turned to Severus at the moment with looks of grim curiosity. All wondering whether or not the reclusive Slytherin _did_ have a thing for the attractive red head with the reputation more varied than that of a celebrity.

He never remembered despising Evan Rosier more in that moment than ever before. What_ nerve_ to put him on the spot with such a ridiculous question!

"You think I _fancy _that insufferable girl? You must be insane. I was simply protecting Slughorn's credibility," Severus lied. "Please don't tell me you've mistaken me with Potter."

"As far as I'm concerned, that filthy blood traitor can have her! But I hear she is with that Jacobson bloke. The Mudbloods deserve each other," Evan said scathingly. "Enough about them, I feel ill just _thinking_ about such grime."

Lily Evans wasn't discussed amongst the boys for the rest of the night, but Severus' thoughts, no matter how hard he tried to concentrate on anything else (from the carpet to whether or not his father remembered his birthday) continued to somehow trickle back to Lily Evans.

**XXX**

James Potter was starving.

So hungry, in fact, that he found himself nibbling ever so slightly on his pillow when he woke up, much to the amusement of Sirius who decided to photograph the event.

"Get up, pillow muncher," Sirius said in mid stretch.

James Potter was not a morning person, and he pondered how on earth Sirius could be so damn casual so early in the morning. The two left Peter talking in his sleep (something about not wanting to wear slippers) and Remus who was drooling all over his Charms book and headed down for an early breakfast in the Great Hall. Such a task should have been easy going: no Peeves around, no Slytherins loitering around the hallways, and no younger years to pester. Just a plate of breakfast waiting for him and a big glass of—

"Potter!"

Or so he thought.

James and Sirius turned to see Alexander Jacobson walking briskly after the two. Images of gulping chilled pumpkin juice suddenly left his head.

"What?" James replied rudely.

"I reckon we should talk," Alexander said stiffly and then glanced at Sirius. "Alone if ya don't mind. I'm sure the two of ya can leave each other's sights for a few seconds?"

"Sure thing, sheep boy," Sirius grinned with a clap on the Ravenclaw's back—who already looked extremely insulted—and hurried to the hall.

James stood there laughing for a few moments before asking, "What do you want shee—Jacobson?"

"I was chatting with Lily the other day," Alexander began.

"Okay, fabulous, now if that's all..." James said, meaning to walk away but was pushed back into position by the Ravenclaw.

No man nudges a Potter.

"I wasn't finished," Alexander said and folded his arms as though trying to be the authority figure in the conversation. "Look here, Potter. Lily was talking to me about some of your more...off colour attempts at the impossible—"

"How did she know about trying to break into her room using floss and a small boulder? I only mentioned that to Peter the other day." James asked with a slight blush.

"…No, not that," Alexander glared. "Your attempts at the impossible in terms of you attracting Lily."

"Yes, and?"

Alexander snorted. "Well, to make this short, she didn't seem very comfortable I thought you should just—"

"Thought I should just what, Jacobson?"

"Quit it, Potter. She's no'interested, mate. Move the fuck on," Alexander muttered in exasperation that James never witnessed, his accent suddenly quite thick. "If you really cared about her ya would."

"Don't play that," James snapped, tempted to punch the boy's lights out. "It's none of your business who I care about or how much."

"I'm doing you the favour of warning you before Lily does first and explodes," Alexander said. "It's done, Potter. Are we clear?"

James scoffed again, not quite believing he had the _nerve_ to treat him this way.

"I'm serious, Potter. Leave Lily alone," Jacobson said with one final, hard pressed stare.

With that, Alexander quickly pivoted away and walked towards the stairs, his cloak billowing behind him slightly. Feeling incredibly angry, James quickly entered the Great Hall and met up with Sirius.

"So what happened? Did he hit you? Did you two snog?" Sirius asked.

James was silent and his mind was blank until an idea hit him, and slowly a smile made its way onto his face.

"Well, what does _that_ look mean?" Sirius said hungrily, a conspiratorial look in his eye.

A mad smile appeared upon James' face, haunting his features.

"Sirius, this means war."

* * *

**A/N:** I'll see you all on the other side of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!


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